The benefits of singing: what the research really shows

Is singing good for you? The evidence at a glance

Yes, singing is good for you, with the clearest evidence for mood and wellbeing and more modest, mixed evidence for physical health. A 2018 systematic review of 61 studies and reports, commissioned by the UK's What Works Centre for Wellbeing, concluded there is reliable evidence that music and singing have positive effects on wellbeing in adults (Daykin et al., 2018).

We graded each claim on a simple scale:

• Strong: a systematic review plus consistent results across several studies.
• Some: at least one randomised controlled trial (people assigned to singing or not by chance) with a positive result, or reviews whose evidence is rated low quality.
• Weak: small or uncontrolled studies, lab measurements that don't clearly translate into health, or mixed results.

Swipe sideways to see the whole table.

Does singing improve your mood and reduce stress?

Yes. Feeling better during and after singing is one of the most consistent findings in the studies we reviewed, though most measure only the short term.

• Choir or solo, mood goes up. In a 2017 study, 38 members of a university choir sang for 20 minutes together and, on another day, 20 minutes alone. After both, they felt happier and less worried and sad, and their saliva cortisol (a stress hormone) was lower. They were happier after singing together than alone (Schladt et al., 2017).
• Singing beats talking. With 71 young choir singers, singing produced bigger positive shifts in mood than speaking, especially in a group (Bowling et al., 2022).
• Singing beats listening. In an amateur choir, singing raised positive mood and lowered negative mood, while just listening to choral music actually raised negative mood (Kreutz et al., 2004).

One caution on "reduces stress". Cortisol often falls during singing sessions, but it also falls naturally through the day. In the 2022 study, the cortisol drop was large but couldn't be separated from that daily rhythm (Bowling et al., 2022). Feeling calmer is well supported. A measurable stress-hormone effect is less certain.

Does singing help with depression and anxiety?

Group singing has some trial evidence for easing symptoms of depression and anxiety in specific groups, especially older adults and new mothers, but it isn't a substitute for treatment.

• Older adults. In a randomised trial of 258 people aged 60 and over in East Kent, England, those who joined a community singing group had better mental health-related quality of life at 6 months than those who didn't. At 3 months they also had lower anxiety and depression scores (Coulton et al., 2015). The differences were modest.
• Postnatal depression, 2018. In a trial of 134 mothers with symptoms of postnatal depression, 10 weeks of group singing with their babies, compared with group play sessions or usual care, did not produce a significantly faster improvement overall. Among mothers with moderate to severe symptoms, the singing group improved significantly faster (Fancourt and Perkins, 2018).
• Postnatal depression, 2025. A larger trial of 199 mothers compared a similar 10-week singing program, Melodies for Mums, with existing mother-and-baby activities. Both groups improved by week 10. The singing group then kept lower depression scores at weeks 20 and 36, by about 1.5 points on a 30-point questionnaire, and more of them stayed in the study: 77% against 57% (Bind et al., 2025).

That's encouraging, but it's evidence for organised group programs in particular groups of people. If you're struggling with low mood, singing can sit alongside proper support, not replace it. (For new parents, there's more in singing to your baby.) This article isn't medical advice.

Is singing good for your lungs?

For people with lung disease, singing seems safe and may improve how they feel physically, but there's little evidence that it improves lung function itself.

• COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). A Cochrane review found three small trials with 112 people. Singing improved a physical quality-of-life score, but not breathlessness or breathing-specific quality of life, and the evidence was rated low to very low quality (McNamara et al., 2017). A 2022 meta-analysis of five trials with 333 people found the same physical quality-of-life gain and stronger breathing-out muscles, but limited effects on lung function and exercise capacity (Fang et al., 2022).
• Long COVID. In a trial of 150 people with breathlessness after COVID-19, a 6-week online program from English National Opera, built on singing techniques, improved the mental health part of a quality-of-life score and breathlessness when running, but not the physical score (Philip et al., 2022).

The UK charity Asthma + Lung UK runs Singing for Lung Health groups and notes that most of the research so far involves COPD (Asthma + Lung UK). If you have a lung condition and aren't sure singing suits you, ask your doctor or the charity's helpline.

For healthy lungs, we found no good evidence that singing improves lung capacity. It does give your breathing muscles a workout: a 2018 review links regular singing with stronger breathing muscles (Kang et al., 2018), and learning how to breathe when singing is a skill in its own right.

Why does singing make you feel close to people?

Singing together seems to speed up social bonding: groups of strangers who sing feel close faster than groups doing other activities.

Researchers followed new adult education classes for seven months. In the first month, a singing class raised people's sense of closeness to their group much more than a craft or creative writing class did. By the last check, at seven months, the other groups had caught up. The authors called it an "ice-breaker effect" (Pearce, Launay and Dunbar, 2015). In the 2022 choir study, singing together increased feelings of social connection more than speaking together (Bowling et al., 2022).

That may matter for loneliness. In the US Community of Voices trial, 390 adults aged 60 and over from 12 senior centres were randomly assigned by centre to join a choir straight away or six months later. The choir members became less lonely and more interested in life, though memory and physical tests didn't change (Johnson et al., 2020). If you've been wondering whether you could join one, see joining a choir as a beginner.

Is singing good for your brain and memory?

For people with dementia, there's some evidence that singing helps mood and some kinds of memory. For healthy adults, we didn't find good evidence that singing sharpens memory.

In a 2014 randomised trial, 89 people with mild to moderate dementia and their carers were split between singing coaching, music listening coaching and usual care for 10 weeks. Compared with usual care, both music groups improved mood, orientation and some kinds of memory, and singing also improved short-term and working memory and carers' wellbeing (Särkämö et al., 2014). A 2025 review of 14 publications on people with dementia living in the community found that singing improved mood and reduced agitation, but found no strong evidence for quality of life (Polden et al., 2025).

Does singing alone have the same benefits as a choir?

Partly. Singing alone still lifts mood, but the social benefits, and most of the research, come from singing with other people.

The clearest comparison is the 2017 study above: the same 38 singers felt happier and less worried and sad after 20 minutes of solo singing as well as after choir, though choir left them happier (Schladt et al., 2017). The 2022 study likewise found the biggest mood and connection gains when singing together (Bowling et al., 2022).

Almost no research looks at adults singing alone at home every day, which is how many people start. Our view: the mood lift seems to travel, the bonding doesn't, and solo practice builds the confidence to sing with others. That's the idea behind Singbud: short daily sessions on your own, with a target of five a week, for adults who think they can't sing. If you doubt you can learn at all, read can anyone learn to sing? If fear is what's stopping you, this guide to the fear of singing may help.

What's overstated: immunity, hormones, pain, snoring and fitness

Claims that singing boosts your immune system, "releases oxytocin", cures pain or stops snoring go well beyond the evidence.

• Immunity. One small 2004 choir study found an antibody in saliva (immunoglobulin A) went up after singing (Kreutz et al., 2004). A change in saliva after one rehearsal isn't evidence that you'll catch fewer colds.
• Oxytocin, the "bonding hormone". Results disagree. In one study saliva oxytocin was higher after singing together than speaking together (Bowling et al., 2022); in another it fell after choir singing and didn't change after solo singing (Schladt et al., 2017). Even a 2018 review that was upbeat about these hormone changes called for larger and longer studies before singing can be recommended in clinical guidelines (Kang et al., 2018).
• Pain. A systematic review of 13 studies of group singing for people with long-term conditions found that most reported less pain intensity, but concluded there was only partial support for effects on pain, from evidence of varied quality (Irons et al., 2020).
• Snoring. The often-quoted study is a pilot with 20 chronic snorers, no comparison group, and 20 minutes of singing exercises a day for 3 months. Snoring fell on average, mostly in people who did the exercises consistently and weren't overweight (Ojay and Ernst, 2000). Interesting, not proven.
• Fitness. Singing works your breathing muscles, but there's little evidence it makes you fitter. Even in COPD, the meta-analysis above found limited effects on exercise capacity (Fang et al., 2022).

None of this makes singing less worth doing. The best reasons to sing are the ones you'd guess: it feels good, and it's better with other people. Not sure where your voice is starting from? The free one-minute pitch test is a gentle first step.

Questions

Sources

1. Daykin, Mansfield, Meads and others (2018). What works for wellbeing? A systematic review of wellbeing outcomes for music and singing in adults. Perspectives in Public Health, via PMC.
2. Schladt, Nordmann, Emilius and others (2017). Choir versus solo singing: effects on mood, and salivary oxytocin and cortisol concentrations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, via PMC.
3. Bowling, Gahr, Ancochea and others (2022). Endogenous oxytocin, cortisol, and testosterone in response to group singing. Hormones and Behavior, via PMC.
4. Kreutz, Bongard, Rohrmann, Hodapp and Grebe (2004). Effects of choir singing or listening on secretory immunoglobulin A, cortisol, and emotional state. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, via PubMed.
5. Coulton, Clift, Skingley and Rodriguez (2015). Community singing and mental health-related quality of life of older people: randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, via PubMed.
6. Fancourt and Perkins (2018). Effect of singing interventions on symptoms of postnatal depression: three-arm randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, via PubMed.
7. Bind, Lawrence, Estevao and others (2025). SHAPER-PND: randomised controlled trial of a community singing intervention for postnatal depressive symptoms. British Journal of Psychiatry, via PMC.
8. McNamara, Epsley, Coren and McKeough (2017). Singing for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, via PMC.
9. Fang, Qiao, Yu and others (2022). Effect of singing on symptoms in stable COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of COPD, via PMC.
10. Philip, Owles, McVey and others (2022). An online breathing and wellbeing programme (ENO Breathe) for people with persistent symptoms following COVID-19: randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respiratory Medicine, via PMC.
11. Asthma + Lung UK. Music and your lungs. asthmaandlung.org.uk.
12. Pearce, Launay and Dunbar (2015). The ice-breaker effect: singing mediates fast social bonding. Royal Society Open Science, via PMC.
13. Johnson, Stewart, Acree and others (2020). A community choir intervention to promote well-being among diverse older adults: the Community of Voices trial. Journals of Gerontology Series B, via PMC.
14. Särkämö, Tervaniemi, Laitinen and others (2014). Cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of regular musical activities in early dementia. The Gerontologist, via PubMed.
15. Polden, Faulkner, Holland and others (2025). Singing interventions for community-dwelling people living with dementia: a systematic review. Dementia, via PMC.
16. Irons, Sheffield, Ballington and Stewart (2020). A systematic review on the effects of group singing on persistent pain in people with long-term health conditions. European Journal of Pain, via PMC.
17. Kang, Scholp and Jiang (2018). A review of the physiological effects and mechanisms of singing. Journal of Voice, via PubMed.
18. Ojay and Ernst (2000). Can singing exercises reduce snoring? A pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, via PubMed.

Not medical advice. Evidence grades are Singbud’s own reading of the studies above. Last reviewed October 2026.