Choral Singers Synchronise their Heart Rates
The BBC News team have reported that 'singers not only
harmonise their voices, they also synchronise their heartbeats'.
Researchers in Sweden monitored the heart rates of singers as they performed a
variety of choral works and found as they sang in unison their pulses began to
speed up and slow down at the same rate.
The scientists studied 15 choir members as they performed different types of
songs and found the more structured the work the more the singers' heart rates
increased or decreased together. Slow chants, for example, produced the
most synchronicity and the overall effect of choral singing was to slow the
heart rate.
There are many documented physical and psychological benefits of singing:
- Reduce heart and blood pressure
- Reduce Stress
- Improve Posture
- Increase Lung Capacity
- Tone Diaphragm, Abdominal & Intercostal Muscles
- Help Build Concentration, Memory & Listening Skills
... and a lot more enjoyable than
going for a jog in the rain!