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Singing is just as healthy as yoga
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
Swedish scientists who study human respiratory diseases have reported that some types of singing can be beneficial to human health. Employees of the University of Gothenburg, which is located in southwestern Sweden, are confident that types of singing associated with breathing control can have the same effect as yoga or complex breathing exercises.
Last week, the British press informed residents of the United Kingdom that people suffering from respiratory diseases should not neglect singing lessons.
For several months, Swedish specialists conducted research aimed at studying the relationship between singing, yoga, gymnastics and human health. Choir singers from Sweden voluntarily took part in several experiments. Doctors were able to establish that people's heartbeats are synchronized during choral singing, and singing can also have a calming effect. The head of the study emphasizes the known facts about singing. According to him, singing is not only the sounds made by a person, but also one of the main possible forms of breathing control. At the beginning of a musical phrase (usually the first line of a piece of music), the singer takes in air, and at the end of the phrase, he releases it. Such actions relax the body and lead to stabilization of the cardiovascular system, which allowed scientists to compare singing with ancient breathing exercises and yoga.
Yoga is not only a popular type of sports activity today, yoga is an ancient teaching about physical and spiritual harmony, based on physical exercises, meditation, concentration and, of course, breathing practices. Special breathing exercises used in yoga can affect both the physical and spiritual state of a person. During the process of performing breathing exercises, the following occurs: - the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body changes significantly. - almost all muscles of the respiratory system are activated. - the nervous system and olfactory receptors are affected.
Of course, it cannot be said that singing can have exactly the same effect as yoga. In any case, yoga includes a greater number of practices: physical, breathing, spiritual. Despite this, experts from Sweden insist on the existence of similarities between the effect of breathing practices and choral singing. In addition, scientists claim that during the process of singing, endorphins are produced in the human body - hormones of joy, which also have a positive effect on overall health.
Previously, Australian scientists reported that singing can relieve irritability, anxiety, and mild depression in older people. Some psychologists advised overly nervous people to take up singing and thus improve their well-being. British colleagues noted that the life expectancy of people who sing in a church choir is significantly higher than that of those who do not sing in their spare time.