A great idea for reducing stress

Reducing stress and anxiety, especially in social situations can feel impossible. Do you feel anxious or shy and want to feel healthy and confident? BBC Breakfast this morning talked about the effect of choral singing on health, especially mental health. Research confirms the benefits.

It’s good for two reasons.

First, the singing is helpful in reducing stress, because it teaches you to breathe better. Improving your breathing, through singing or yoga, or just by learning how to breathe better, changes your blood chemistry and as a result, reduces stress hormones. As we breathe out, we remove carbon dioxide from our body. If our breathing is shallow, or rapid, our carbon dioxide levels become out of balance. The body can cope with this, indeed, it’s part of our normal, fight or flight response to a real threat. It’s unhealthy long term though. So learning to breathe better, reduces stress.

Second, it’s because, as a social animal, humans generally like to be accepted as part of a ‘team’ or ‘group’, so that’s where the choir comes in! Though being part of a choir is not the only way to get these benefits. Work, geographical, hobby groups, families and friends can all give the same sorts of benefits. If we are not comfortable in social situations, reducing stress is important. Some people have problems creating healthy social connections. They can over-value or distort the connections creating social anxiety, aggression and other symptoms. Getting a better perspective on these connections helps people to relax, feel confident and enjoy social situations.

Once you understand how the mind-body connection works:- how, what you do in your head shoots you in the foot, you could create all these benefits for yourself.

Do you use your diaphragm when you breathe? How comfortable do you feel in parties, groups and teams?

If you want to know more, give me a call to arrange a free initial consultation: 07717 410 910.