Singing with other people is better for you than singing alone

LIFESTYLE/HEALTH

Singing is healthy and even more so when singing in a group. The research, which isn’t all new, shows joining a singing group or choir or performing some karaoke does wonders for your wellbeing.

Given we are social creatures and social isolation can be deadly for us, is it a surprise that harmonising our voices together makes us feel better than belting out a song on our own?

Some scientists claim humans sang before we could speak: that we gradually expanded our capacity for vocalising by mimicking the tones of nature. Singing activates the vagus nerve, which modulates our body’s ability to calm itself. The activation is done through long and slow expirations and inhalations needed to sing whole verses and long notes, which doubles up with a thorough activation of numerous neural pathways on both sides of the brain, and a release of feel-good endorphins.

David Cox, in a story for the BBC, writes that singing also produces other measurable physical effects, including regulating one’s heart rate and blood pressure. Singing in groups or choirs, Cox says, has even been found to boost immune function in ways that simply listening to the same music doesn’t.

Some of this might be because singing puts demands on the pulmonary system, which has been calculated to be as demanding as a brisk intensity walk. Where there is cardiovascular exertion, there is health and greater physiological alignment, including in the immune system.

A recent study, published in September 2025, took a group of 95 healthy adults (aged 21–88) through a number of tests and found that choir singing was associated with reduced depression and a better overall quality of life. Lifelong choir singing was also associated with improved memory and verbal fluency.

However, your fellow choristers don’t necessarily have to be people you know. A study from 2015 has shown that complete strangers can forge unusually close bonds after singing together in a way not seen in team sports, for example. This is called the ice-breaker effect, suggesting that singing can reveal the interior character of a person more than chit-chat can.

SOURCE