HAPPY HOUR

Everyday activities that boost your happiness hormones

This week: karaoke Not only does the physical action of filling and emptying the lungs while singing release feelgood chemicals called endorphins, several studies have found it also triggers the bonding, calming hormone oxytocin.

‘One study showed that when oxytocin levels were measured after people chatted with each other or sang together, they were higher in the singing group,’ explains Graham Welch, a professor and chair of music education at University College London (UCL). In fact, oxytocin levels increased five times more in the singing group than in the chatting one, according to the 2014 study, by researchers at UCL, published in the journal Music and Medicine. While it’s not known exactly why singing with others means that more oxytocin is released, singing ‘also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increases lung activity and heart rate, which boosts oxygenation of the blood, creating a greater sense of alertness and happiness’, says Professor Welch.