You wouldn’t think that people living with brain injury, dementia, IBS, eating disorders, mental health problems or simply the effects of old age would have much in common. In fact these conditions are just some of a whole range of physical and psychological problems that can be alleviated with singing.

“Imagine the day,” says Grenville Hancox MBE, Centre Director at the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, “when your GP says ‘go and have a sing with that lot down the road’ instead of ‘take these pills three times a day’!”

Exercise on prescription schemes are already established across the UK, and now arts and group singing are also being used to improve health and wellbeing, both for people who are generally in good health, and for people with physical and mental health problems or who are socially isolated or excluded. The Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health in Folkestone, part of Canterbury Christ Church University, is working towards creating a rationale for ‘singing on prescription’, and developing a practical scheme that can be tested for its effectiveness.

I can personally testify to the health benefits of singing. Belonging to various choirs since I was nine (I’m now 31) has improved my self-confidence, memory, concentration, posture, and helped me cope with exam stress, job stress and health problems.

Now a member of Henley Choral Society, I can honestly say that when I enter that rehearsal hall on Monday nights, I become so entirely focused on what I’m singing that any worries are banished. I’ve also made lasting friendships, and experienced euphoria and a sense of achievement after performing in concerts.

Positive impact

Health experts presented scientific evidence to prove what singers like me believe – that singing has a profound effect on health and wellbeing – at a recent conference entitled Music and Health: Current Developments in Research and Practice, organised by the Sidney De Haan Research Centre in conjunction with the Royal Society for Public Health. The aim of the conference, the first of its kind to be held in the UK, was to promote the positive impact of singing in a bid to encourage other healthcare professionals to recognise music as a crucial form of treatment.

Richard Parish, the CEO of the Royal Society for Public Health, says: “The evidence shows that the contribution of arts and health is grossly underestimated by many healthcare professionals. The Royal Society for Public Health encourages all organisations involved in healthcare to invest in these evidence-based interventions. This conference hopefully raised awareness about the health outcomes possible and, in particular, the contribution singing makes to health improvement.”

Some healthcare professionals are already aware of the power of music and singing. Ann Sutton, Chief Executive of Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT), says: “I believe singing for health brings huge benefits to certain people. Last spring, the PCT held a health and wellbeing event in Folkestone. A singing workshop engaged participants for a fun-filled half-hour that made everyone feel great afterwards. I have never seen such a gathering of smiling faces.”

Iain Spink, who spoke at the conference, is a music therapist employed by the NHS in Kent to help people who are in hospital suffering from mental health difficulties. He says: “Songs can be quite resonant in terms of memory and association, and that’s something I work with in the groups. As well as physical benefits, there are emotional and psychological effects of musicmaking and singing. If a client is in a group of people who are singing, it will bring up memories, which can help in therapeutic ways. For people with dementia, singing can be quite a powerful way of relating and interacting with people, when it’s difficult to interact verbally.”

He adds: “Singing and music can help with recovery from depression and help with selfesteem and confidence.”

Iain also works at the Royal London Society for the Blind’s Dorton House School in Sevenoaks, where many children suffer from other physical and learning difficulties, as well as visual impairments. He says: “Music is a powerful way to engage with other children in something that’s creative and meaningful. With singing in particular there’s no sight required – the children don’t have the barriers they have for other things.”

The music and health conference focused on how music has been used to help older people (including those suffering with dementia), those with brain injuries and mental health service users. The Sidney De Haan Centre was set up to conduct research into the effects of the arts on health after Roger De Haan noticed that the condition of his ageing father Sidney, who had dementia, was significantly improved after attending musical events.

The charity Sing For Your Life runs singing and music-making sessions for more than 1,500 older people, including those with dementia, in day centres, community venues and hospitals. Led by musicians, the Silver Song Clubs involve elderly people joining in with musical activities including singing and playing percussion instruments. Participants have experienced reduced depression, less reliance on medicine, reduction in GP visits and improved rating of overall health.

Among Silver Song Club’s aims are to stimulate motor skills, encourage social interaction and shared performance, and to provide progressive learning.

Focus and concentration

Professor Stephen Clift, Research Director at the Sidney De Haan Centre, is convinced of “the value of singing in relation to memory and keeping mentally active. Singing is a tremendous cognitive challenge; you can’t do it unless you’re focused and concentrating.  en there’s singing in parts – the whole thing is a very demanding intellectual activity.”

He says: “Stroke is another area that’s very interesting. People can lose the capacity to speak but still be able to sing.”  This is because language comes from the left side of the brain, while music comes more from the right side. So if a person has a stroke aff ecting the left side of their brain, they will still retain the music and words of songs. 

The Centre is currently working on a project with people suff ering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  Professor Clift explains: “We’re setting up groups for people with COPD. It would be a form of exercise. People with lung conditions have to keep physically active to improve their breathing. It’s a very diffi cult thing for people to keep it up when they’re just exercising and remembering to breathe deeply, but with singing that’s what you have to do.”

Folkestone GP Dr Sarah Montgomery, a member of the Centre’s Advisory Group, says her interest in the link between music and good health began when she saw a chaplain in a long-stay hospital for people with dementia lead a service.

“In place of the liturgy he used hymns. I was amazed by the transformation in the atmosphere of the ward and the behaviour of my patients. People who could no longer recognise their own spouses sang the hymns they had known since childhood and calmly took communion.  eir dignity and humanity was restored. Music achieved in an instant what drugs and dedicated nursing care could never do.”

Accentuate the positive

Professor Stephen Clift, Research Director, and Grenville Hancox MBE, Centre Director at the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, conducted a survey of a university college choral society in 2001.

In the first study of 84 members, participants said they benefi ted from participating in choral singing in the following ways:

• 87 per cent – socially;
• 75 per cent – emotionally;
• 58 per cent – physically;
• 49 per cent – spiritually.

The most common benefi ts cited were:

• Meeting new people;
• Feeling more positive;
• Increased control over breathing;
• Feeling more alert;
• Feeling spiritually uplifted;
• Improved lung function and breathing;
• Improved mood and stress reduction.

In the second study of 91 members of the choir, over 40 per cent strongly agreed that:

• “Singing helps to make my mood more positive.”
• “Singing is a moving experience for me sometimes.”
• “Singing makes me feel a lot happier.”
• “Singing is good for my soul.”

Further analysis identifi ed six dimensions of benefit associated with singing. These benefi ts were labelled as:

• For wellbeing and relaxation;
• For breathing and posture;
• For heart and immune system;
• Social;
• Spiritual;
• Emotional.

Women were signifi cantly more likely to experience benefi ts for wellbeing and relaxation, younger people were more likely to report social benefi ts, and those professing religious beliefs were more likely to experience spiritual benefits.

Find out more

• Sing For Your Life – www.singforyourlife.org.uk

• Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health – www.canterbury.ac.uk/centres/sidney-de-haan-research/index.asp