Make singing part of your five-a-day for wellbeing

• Posted by Chris Rowbury May 20, 2020 - Filed in Choir Post - 813 views

  [A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]
  
  Are you doing your five-a-day for well-being?
  
  
  
  

  Here are five things that can help with your feelings of well-being if done daily.
  
  

  five-a-day for wellbeing

  There has been a lot of research to show how beneficial simple things are to our general well-being. Things like exercise, laughing, but most importantly singing.
  
  Recent research has found that not only does singing help with stress, breathing, mood, etc. but singing with others has enormous social and mental health benefits.
  
  Several countries have come up with national five-a-day campaigns to try to get citizens to eat more healthily. I thought it would be an idea to do the same, but for our general mental wellbeing.
  
  Here are five simple things that can help with your sense of wellbeing. You don’t have to do them for long, so it’s easy to fit them in daily. And they’re fun!
  
  

  1. sing – preferably with others
  2. hug – even if it’s a stranger or a teddy bear
  3. move – dance or do yoga or stretch or walk
  4. be with nature – even if it’s spending five minutes watching the birds feed or the leaves moving on the tree in your garden
  5. laugh – at yourself or with others

  
  It’s even possible to combine several at once. For example, go for a walk in nature, or hug someone while you’re both laughing.
  
  Of course, this is not a definitive list and can always be added to.
  
  For example, one other thing that I think is very important is:
  
  quiet time – solitude, watch the clouds, meditate, lie on the floor. There is even evidence to show that silence is good for your brain.
  
  

  but singing is the best!

  If you can only do one of these five, then I would choose singing with others as it has the largest number of health benefits all in one package.

   

   

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  Chris Rowbury

  website: chrisrowbury.com
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