Singing Christmas carols can help cure some diseases.
Scientists have discovered that singing festive hits with strangers gives people a hormonal lift that is linked to greater wellbeing and reduced rates of depression.
Experts are convinced that the prolonged joy involved while singing carols triggers the release of brain-boosting endorphins and could even help patients with dementia connect with lost memories and improve movement in those suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University, said: “Singing is one of the mega-mechanisms used for bonding.
“Singing in the shower gives you a bit of an uplift, but when doing it communally there’s something about the synchrony of singing that creates this massive endorphin uplift.”
He continued: “The effect is highly scalable. The bigger the group, the better it works, and that doesn’t happen with any other bonding process we use.”
