The Research

Singing in groups could make you happier – according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Researchers examined the benefits of singing among people with mental health conditions including anxiety and depression. They found that people who took part in a community singing group maintained or improved their mental health. And that the combination of singing and socialising was an essential part of recovery because it promoted an ongoing feeling of belonging and wellbeing. Lead researcher Prof Tom Shakespeare from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and his researcher Dr Alice Whieldon worked in collaboration with the Sing Your Heart Out (SYHO) project, based in Norfolk. The grassroots initiative runs weekly singing workshops, aimed at people with mental health conditions as well as the general public. It originally began at Hellesdon psychiatric hospital in 2005, but afterwards moved into the community. Around 120 people now attend four free workshops each we...

n Christian countries the “love mood” is higher around Christmas time and so are online searches related to sex, whereas in Muslim countries a similar behaviour happens around the religious festivities of Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha.  Scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC, Portugal) and Indiana University (IU, USA) showed that there is a specific mood associated with religious celebrations, and that this “loving mood” can influence human reproductive behaviour. The research team led by Joana Goncalves-Sa and Luis Rocha used worldwide data from Twitter and Google Trends to find that culture, and not only biology, drives human reproductive cycles. This study is published in the open access journal  Scientific Reports . In Northern hemisphere Western countries, more babies are born in September than in other months of the year. This means that more babies are conceived in December and that human reproduction displays a cyclical pattern. Until now, it wa...