Implants Are Giving New Voices To Patient
It turns out that singing in the shower is actually good for you. Singing not only lifts your mood by taking your mind off the day's stresses, it also helps in posture as the chest expands and back and shoulders straighten. So, sing for your health, harmonize with friends, and take it easy on the wallet!
- Several studies have found that singing also enhances immunity and well-being. Researchers at the University of Frankfurt in Germany found chorus singers to have higher levels of immunoglobulin A and cortisol -- markers of enhanced immunity -- after they sang Mozart's "Requiem" than before. Just listening to the music did not have this effect.
- Choir members in other studies reveal better posture, improved lung capacity, higher energy levels, and relief of asthma symptoms.
- Singing for the Brain is a singing group for those with dementia, memory problems or Alzheimer's disease. Somehow it seems that memory for singing is preserved even when that for speech is disturbed. Family members report that they get a lift when their loved ones can remember song lyrics even when it seems they've forgotten much of themselves.
- Singing releases feel good brain chemicals called endorphins which are neuroprotective. University of Manchester researchers found that the inner ear organ, the sacculus, responds to frequencies commonly found in music, and is connected to the pleasure centers of the brain -- this is why one feels immediate pleasure when breaking out in song -- regardless of what it sounds like to others!
- Reid Wilson, Ph.D., Associate Clinical Professor Of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, believes you can, “sing away your woes.” Simply choose a familiar song, and then set your troubles to music.
- For example, instead of crooning the traditional words to Mary Had A Little Lamb, imagine warbling, “My credit card bill is going to be late, going to be late, going to be late; my credit rating will be ruined, and I’ll never get a mortgage.” Sing your own version of the worry song in your mind, or out loud for a few minutes, until you feel less anxious.
- It works because “the singing makes you feel ridiculous”, says Wilson. “And it’s very hard to maintain your distress when you’re doing something foolish. You step back from the worry and put it in perspective.”
