Research

The past two decades have seen rapid growth in scientific research into the physical and mental health benefits of both singing and breathing practices.

My MA Voice Pedagogy research focused particularly on Compassion Focused Therapy-informed teaching approaches, the intersections between breathwork and singing, and the therapeutic use of pedagogical breath and voice techniques.

A programme of six weekly hour-long sessions was undertaken with 3 participants and findings of this comparative case study indicated:

Reductions in anxiety
Increases in relaxation
Increases in calm post-sessions
Increases in awareness regarding respiratory tendencies and physiological tensions
Ability to self-implement breathwork and related singing exercises
Increased joy in relation to voice and feeling able to sing with more authentic sound
Greater flexibility of cognitive patterns
A sense of empowerment

I have recently had a research paper based on aspects of this work published in international peer-reviewed journal, Australian Voice. You can read the full article here. If you are interested in reading a broader summary of singing and breathwork research, please scroll down.

MA Research Findings

SUMMARY OF BROADER RESEARCH ON SINGING FOR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

Over 90% of singing lesson students commented on benefits of singing to their mental health (e.g., mood, less depressive episodes) (Smith et al, 2021)

Singing can reduce depression and increase self-esteem in children and young people (Porter et al, 2017)

Singing interventions were found to be effective in improving the mental health component of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in people with Long Covid (Philip et al, 2022)

Singing can cause changes in hormones, including the upregulation of oxytocin, (Kang et al, 2018) and endorphins (Smith et al, 2010)

Singing training uses the cardiorespiratory system and has the potential to enhance respiratory muscles and optimize breathing (Kang et al, 2018)

Singing (standing up) requires physiological demands comparable to moderate paced walking (Philip et al, 2021)

Lengthening exhalation, slowing breath rate and using diaphragmatic breathing can increase Parasympathetic Nervous System activity (Perciavalle et al, 2017)

Singing can promote the reduction of stress hormone cortisol (Kreutz et al, 2004; Fancourt et al, 2016)

Five minutes singing at CB pace/ratio amplified HRV and increasesd positive affect (Tanzmeister et al., 2022) and spontaneous toning triggered CB pace leading to cardio-respiratory optimization (Bernardi et al., 2017)

SUMMARY OF BROADER RESEARCH ON BREATHWORK FOR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

Breathing is unique amongst autonomic systems as it has the capacity to be under conscious control(Schwerdtfeger et al, 2020)

Slow Breath Practices can be helpful in reducing stress/anxiety, enhancing concentration, improving sleep issues and reducing PTSD Symptoms (Gerbarg & Brown, 2016), (Streeter et al, 2012)

Respiratory circuits are essentially plastic (Smith et al, 2012) which allows for adaptation/improvement of breathing behaviours

Diaphragmatic breathing can be a beneficial, safe approach to reducing symptoms in anxiety disorders (Chen et al, 2017; Wei et al, 2016).

Coherent breathing, a foundational element of Breath-Body-Mind practices has been associated with high Heart Rate Variability (HRV), an indicator of good balanced and calm mental/emotional state (Brown et al, 2013)

Slowing the respiration cycle, extending exhalation, and using diaphragmatic breathing all positively stimulate the vagus nerve (Gerritsen and Band, 2018) providing benefits to cognitive, physical and emotional health

Sensory messages from the lungs and diaphragm transmit information to multiple areas of the brain (Heck et al, 2017) (Noble & Hochman, 2019); slow, deep breathing generates messages of safety positively impacting on cognitions/emotional health.

KEY TO CHART COLOURS

Related to Mental Health

Related to Hormones/Adrenal Function

Related to Heart Function

Related to Lung Function

Related to Diaphragm

Related to Nervous System Function

Multiple Colours - related to more than one category

References

Bernardi, N. F., Snow, S., Peretz, I., Orozco Perez, H. D., Sabet-Kassouf, N., & Lehmann, A. (2017). Cardiorespiratory optimization during improvised singing and toning. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07171-2

Brown, R. P., Gerbarg, P. L., & Muench, F. (2013). Breathing Practices for Treatment of Psychiatric and Stress-Related Medical Conditions. In Psychiatric Clinics of North America (Vol. 36, Issue 1, pp. 121–140). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2013.01.001

Chen, Y. F., Huang, X. Y., Chien, C. H., & Cheng, J. F. (2017). The Effectiveness of Diaphragmatic Breathing Relaxation Training for Reducing Anxiety. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 53(4), 329–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12184

Fancourt, D., Williamon, A., Carvalho, L. A., Steptoe, A., Dow, R., & Lewis, I. (2016). Singing modulates mood, stress, cortisol, cytokine and neuropeptide activity in cancer patients and carers. Ecancermedicalscience. https://doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2016.631

Gerbarg, P. L., & Brown, R. P. (2016). Neurobiology and neurophysiology of breath practices in psychiatric care. Psychiatric Times, 33(11).

Gerritsen, R. J. S., & Band, G. P. H. (2018). Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00397

Heck, D. H., McAfee, S. S., Liu, Y., Babajani-Feremi, A., Rezaie, R., Freeman, W. J., Wheless, J. W., Papanicolaou, A. C., Ruszinkó, M., Sokolov, Y., & Kozma, R. (2017). Breathing as a fundamental rhythm of brain function. Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 10(January), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2016.00115

Kang, J., Scholp, A., & Jiang, J. J. (2018). A Review of the Physiological Effects and Mechanisms of Singing. Journal of Voice, 32(4), 390–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2017.07.008

Kreutz, G., Bongard, S., Rohrmann, S., Hodapp, V., & Grebe, D. (2004). Effects of choir singing or listening on secretory immunoglobulin A, cortisol, and emotional state. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 27(6), 623–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-004-0006-9

Noble, D. J., & Hochman, S. (2019). Hypothesis: Pulmonary Afferent Activity Patterns During Slow, Deep Breathing Contribute to the Neural Induction of Physiological Relaxation. Frontiers in Physiology, 10(September), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01176

Perciavalle, V., Blandini, M., Fecarotta, P., Buscemi, A., Di Corrado, D., Bertolo, L., Fichera, F., & Coco, M. (2017). The role of deep breathing on stress. Neurological Sciences, 38(3), 451–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-016-2790-8

Philip, K. E. J., Lewis, A., Buttery, S. C., McCabe, C., Manivannan, B., Fancourt, D., Orton, C. M., Polkey, M. I., & Hopkinson, N. S. (2021). Physiological demands of singing for lung health compared with treadmill walking. BMJ Open Respiratory Research, 8(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjresp-2021-000959

Philip, K. E. J., Owles, H., McVey, S., Pagnuco, T., Bruce, K., Brunjes, H., Banya, W., Mollica, J., Lound, A., Zumpe, S., Abrahams, A. M., Padmanaban, V., Hardy, T. H., Lewis, A., Lalvani, A., Elkin, S., & Hopkinson, N. S. (2022). An online breathing and wellbeing programme (ENO Breathe) for people with persistent symptoms following COVID-19: a parallel-group, single-blind, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine, 2600(22), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00125-4

Porter, S., McConnell, T., McLaughlin, K., Lynn, F., Cardwell, C., Braiden, H. J., Boylan, J., Holmes, V., Rogan, S., Clinician, L., Diamond, K., Allen, J., Reilly, C., Davidson, F., McDowell, C., Boyd, R., Oldfield, A., Mullowney, M., Downes, C., … Heale, A. (2017). Music therapy for children and adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems: a randomised controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 58(5), 586–594. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12656

Schwerdtfeger, A. R., Schwarz, G., Pfurtscheller, K., Thayer, J. F., Jarczok, M. N., & Pfurtscheller, G. (2020). Heart rate variability (HRV): From brain death to resonance breathing at 6 breaths per minute. Clinical Neurophysiology, 131(3), 676–693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2019.11.013

Smith, A. M., Kleinerman, K., & Cohen, A. J. (2021). Singing lessons as a path to well-being in later life. Psychology of Music. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356211030992

Smith, G., Sprouse-Blum, A. S., Sugai, D., & Parsa, F. D. (2010). Understanding endorphins and their importance in pain management. Hawaii Medical Journal, 69(3), 70–71.

Smith, J. C., Abdala, A. P. L., Borgmann1, A., Rybak, I. A., & Paton, J. F. R. (2012). Brainstem respiratory networks: building blocks and microcircuits. Bone, 23(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2012.11.004.Brainstem

Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P. L., Saper, R. B., Ciraulo, D. A., & Brown, R. P. (2012). Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypotheses, 78(5), 571–579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.021

Wei, G. X., Li, Y. F., Yue, X. L., Ma, X., Chang, Y. K., Yi, L. Y., Li, J. C., & Zuo, X. N. (2016). Tai Chi Chuan modulates heart rate variability during abdominal breathing in elderly adults. PsyCh Journal, 5(1), 69–77. https://doi.org/10.1002/pchj.105