Sing out Loud Every Day.
This piece of health advice comes from listening to my daughter Julia
sing every day when we were in Ghana. I
realized, while I listened to her strum on her guitar and let her soul pour out
in words and notes, that something really important was going on there.
You’ve felt it. I
know it. Driving down the freeway,
windows rolled down on a beautiful day, belting out whatever song from your
youth is on the radio and loving every minute of it. AND, if you were with a friend doing it, it
felt even better. My kids and I used to
do this with Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra. Geeky.
I know. But it feels fantastic.
When I was just in Ghana this past Fall, I was an on a
tro-tro (very scary tiny money-buses that take you around the city and country)
and every person on the vehicle started singing out loud in unison to a gospel
song on the radio. It was beautiful and
the whole vehicle was beaming with the light of song. There was a lot going on there beyond just
having fun and praising God.
For years I practiced the piano, sang in the car, and
sometimes broke out into spontaneous song with my theatre kids or theatre geek
friends, but I never really pondered the importance of singing out loud. Turns out that this is really good for you on
three levels:
1) Physically: It creates a different kind, a deeper kind of
breath in the body that is incredibly cleansing for the lungs and the vocal
folds…just helps to de-toxify the whole body through the breath.
2) Emotionally: Singing produces serotonin in the brain. Lots of it.
When they scan brains of people singing, it lights up like crazy in both
hemispheres and especially on the serotonin receptors. In other words, singing makes you happy. Even if you’re singing a sad song.
3) Spiritually: Also turns out that when you sing, you feel
closer to something greater than yourself.
Call this God, Jesus, Spirit, whatever you wish, but singing makes
people feel spiritual.
There are a bunch of studies out there on how singing can
change you. Here’s just one link from a
study I read this past week. I
discovered it when working on some Alzheimer’s research and found it fascinating: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/11/alzheimers-patients-brains-boosted-sound-music-singing
Sing. Sing a
song. Sing out loud. Sing out
strong. Just sing. Sing a song!
It can actually change your brain, make you feel better,
boost your serotonin and bring vivacity into your body. AND, even better, if you sing in a group, you
get an amazing communal response where breathing, heartbeats, and brainwaves
sync up, causing a wave of relaxation and a lowering in the stress hormone
cortisol!:
So, sing alone. But
singing together is even better. For me,
singing alone during devotions is wonderful.
I sing a favorite hymn or some worship song that I love or California
Stars by Woody Guthrie and Wilco which always makes me closer to God and the
ones I love. I’d love to hear the whole
world singing out loud every day.
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