Want Less Stress in Your Life? Join a Choir, Nerd

Belonging to a choir might make you a dork — but it’ll make you a chill-ass dork.

According to research published in the Psychology of Music journal, participating in choral activities can calm anxiety. In a study of 70 college students,

The study split 70 college students into two groups. Over eight weeks, the first group participated in a one-hour choir rehearsal each week, and the other group just spent the hour doing whatever the fuck they wanted (probably watching TV or jerking off, let’s be real.) Then, the students were tested for stress.

The results were interesting:

Our findings suggested that singing in a choir had a significant impact on decreasing the negative affect and state anxiety levels of the singers. Salivary amylase levels showed a tendency to decrease in the singers, but not significantly.

Future research should examine the long-term effects of choir singing, and compare the effects of group singing with non-singing control group. Also the social aspects of group singing versus other social activities such as craft or drama groups would require further studies.

So basically, choir rehearsal might lead to reduced anxiety and decreased negative moods — especially if Sister Mary Clarence is involved.