Karaoke therapy

I stumbled across an article in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research that piqued my interest. I remember years ago when the medical community was rocked with research that red wine is good for your heart. The first reaction of the medical community was to get legislation passed that prohibited anyone from ever implying that more than one glass of wine was good for you.

The next thing the medical community did was to go looking for the chemical in red wine that prevented heart attacks, provided one never ever drank more than one glass of wine. Resveratrol was one of the early suggestions. Later, they found that one would need to drink hundreds of bottles of wine a day for the resveratrol to have any effect. Since it is illegal to imply that more than one glass of wine might be good for you, this part of the research was quickly hushed up.

Right from the start, I knew that the search for a chemical component to wine that promoted health was ill conceived. Yes, there probably are some components of wine that are healthful, but (my opinion) the silly researchers were missing the forest for the trees. Alcohol relaxes you. And reducing stress will do all kinds of good chemical stuff in your body, and so, will promote good health. And further, the socializing we often do when we drink also helps relax us. The picture below relaxes me even without even having a sip of beer.

What about the ill effects of too much drink? Again, maybe stress is the operative force. Anyone who has had a hangover or been in a drunken bar fight will attest to the fact that too much alcohol can raise your stress level.

My thesis is that a large part of the health benefit from drinking (no more than one drink) is from relaxation and socialization. The article I found shows that the medical community has finally heard my message. The conclusion to the paper:

Conclusions:  Social support may enhance the beneficial effect of light-to-moderate alcohol consumption on risk of cardiovascular disease.

But the paper really caught my attention when the subject of karaoke was brought up. Here is a comment from one person who commented on the article: 

Tanigawa [the author] also recommended karaoke bars as one way for business persons to cope with stress.' Singers use deep breathing, which is good for the parasympathetic nervous system. After singing, they usually receive applause. It is a good kind of social support, and helps in the face of adverse occasions or stressful events.'

YES!!!!  They finally get it!! Thank you Dr. Tanigawa.

Intrigued, I went on a search through Pubmed to find other research that said karaoke can promote good health. I found two research papers on the benefits of karaoke therapy.

Karaoke therapy in the rehabilitation of mental patients
CONCLUSION: Karaoke therapy may be more effective [for treating chronic schizophrenic patients] than simple singing in improving social interaction. There is preliminary evidence that it may be anxiety-provoking for unstable schizophrenic patients. More research is required for further elucidation of the characteristics of favourable candidates, optimal schedule and active components of the therapy.

Karaoke for quads: a new application of an old recreation with potential therapeutic benefits  for people with disabilities
CONCLUSION: This article examines theoretical considerations and proposes a research agenda. Empirical research would be valuable to confirm the potential benefits of karaoke for people with disabilities.


But just like vino, there can be too much of a good thing. I found an article that warns of the dangers of too much karaoke.

Effect of hydration and vocal rest on the vocal fatigue in amateur karaoke singersThese results suggest that hydration and vocal rests are useful strategies to preserve voice function and quality during karaoke singing. This information is useful educational information for karaoke singers.