Study: How singing can combat signs of ageing

The benefits of singing have long been documented – we know it feels good to sing, but did you know that singing can be used as an effective treatment for achieving younger looking and more glowing skin?

Swedish skincare powerhouse FOREO joined forces with The British Academy of Sound Therapy to study the effects of singing out loud to your favourite songs on your skin. The good news is that singing along to your favourite tracks is not only the perfect mood booster but it’s also great for your skin, in fact just five minutes of singing a day could combat signs of ageing and here’s why:

Singing helps you achieve a natural glow

An increase in Dopamine can elevate our mood and when we’re happier we glow. Every time we experience chills or goose-bumps when listening to our favourite track we are

giving ourselves a shot of this ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter. When we are happier, not only are the muscles in the face lifted but the skin glows and we glow from the inside out.

Singing can help tone the face

Research showed that 30 days of singing each day (which mimics the exercises in a recent study) resulted in an improvement in the facial muscle tone and helped to counterbalance aging effects1. Singing will help to increase blood flow to the skin and exercise the mouth, tongue and throat.

Singing is anti-ageing

Increased levels of stress hormones affect the quality of collagen, reducing elasticity and therefore increasing the appearance of fine lines and the skin’s ability to ‘bounce back’. Increase in hormones like adrenaline has been linked to excessive aging2. There have been numerous studies that these hormones reduce when singing for fun (as opposed to performing, which can be stressful).,3

Goodbye acne

Stress has also been thought to be one of the primary causes of acne4 but those suffering with acne can get into a feedback loop – stress causes acne and acne causes stress. In these cases, it is really important to break the cycle as quickly as possible by singing along to your favourite tracks regularly.

Duration is key

It is important that you sing for a certain length of time for optimum effect. Make sure you sing for at least 5 minutes to feel the uplifting benefits of singing. If you are feeling particularly down, then choose a few of your favourite tracks that add up to around 14 minutes to get the maximum sonic vitamin boost!

The perfect sing along playlist

The study also revealed the three most important ingredients in music that may help improve the skin which are lyrics (to boost mood, increase Dopamine, reduce stress), driving rhythm (to boost mood and increase oxygen flow) and breathing (to reduce stress and increase oxygen). The following playlist of top 10 songs were chosen with these criteria in mind and can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5n7I8vn3dY7eWSpj2QB7Fc?si=NL5Q1H0zQQOPggRdKqOMCw

Pharrell Williams – Happy (lyrics)
Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now (lyrics)
Kylie Minogue – Spinning Around (lyrics)
Rag and Bone Man – Giant (lyrics)
Blinding Lights – The Weekend (rhythm)
Mark Ronson Ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk (rhythm)
Wham! – Wake me up before you go go (rhythm)
Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance with Somebody (breathing)
Gloria Gaynor – I will Survive (breathing)
Robbie Williams – Angels (breathing)