Singing Makes You Healthy?

Hat tip: A Cappella News.

It's good news for choir members:

It's not clear how much of the health benefit is due to hanging out with other people and how much to the artistic challenge, but a handful of studies suggest that, for whatever mix of reasons, choral singing is good for your health.

In 2006, Dr. Gene Cohen, a psychiatrist and director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, published results of a federally funded study on 300 people aged 65 to 103 in three cities. In each city, half of the participants attended an arts program and half did not.

----

After one year, the singers reported better health than at the outset of the study, while the health of the control group was worse, said Cohen. The singers also had fewer falls and greater improvement in measures of depression, loneliness, and morale.

Woohoo! I guess my jogging days are over . . .