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StillnessMusic and health fact

When people sing together in a choir, their breathing falls into step with the music, and their heart rates can begin to rise and fall together too.

Frontiers in Psychology / University of Potsdam

HealthMindMusic

The story behind the card

In a 2013 study in Frontiers in Psychology, Björn Vickhoff and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden recorded the heartbeats of fifteen 18-year-olds as they sang together. The heart naturally speeds up a little on each in-breath and slows on each out-breath, a rhythm called respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Because a song decides when everyone breathes, the singers' heart rates began to rise and fall together. The effect was strongest for a slow chant with breaths only between phrases and clear for a hymn. When the group simply hummed one note and breathed freely, their hearts did not fall into step. It was a small study, but a 2011 study of a choir in Berlin found a similar link.

Türkçe oku
Bir koro birlikte şarkı söylediğinde üyelerin nefesi müziğin ritmine uyar; kalp atışları da birlikte hızlanıp yavaşlamaya başlayabilir.

Göteborg Üniversitesi'nden Björn Vickhoff ve ekibi, 2013'te Frontiers in Psychology dergisinde yayımlanan çalışmada 18 yaşındaki on beş gencin birlikte şarkı söylerken kalp atışlarını kaydetti. Kalp, her nefes alışta biraz hızlanır, her nefes verişte biraz yavaşlar; buna solunumsal sinüs aritmisi denir. Şarkı herkesin ne zaman nefes alacağını belirlediği için şarkıcıların kalp atışları birlikte hızlanıp yavaşlamaya başladı. Etki en çok, yalnızca cümle aralarında nefes alınan ağır tempolu bir mantrada görüldü; bir ilahide de belirgindi. Grup tek bir notayı mırıldanıp herkes dilediği gibi nefes aldığında ise kalpler aynı ritme girmedi. Küçük bir çalışmaydı; ama 2011'de Berlin'de bir koroyla yapılan başka bir araştırma da benzer bir bağ buldu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Singing
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