[Dialogue] From The Week news magazine year end issue

Group singing can create a rewarding feeling of oneness. Swedish researchers monitored the heart rates of 15 choral singers as they hummed, sang, and chanted. The singers’ pulses increased and decreased together as the music’s tempo changed, and their heartbeats aligned when the songs required them to breathe in unison. “You are synchronizing with other people, and harmonizing your hearts,” says study author Björn Vickhoff. That could explain why singing together strengthens solidarity in groups from football fans to work crews. The controlled breathing that singing demands also seems to have a calming influence, achieving “the same effect as breathing exercises in yoga.” Jim Wiegel