Singing helps relieve shortness of breath caused by prolonged COVID-19 syndrome

Guests sing karaoke in an “isolation room” at a restaurant – karaoke in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 2020 – Photo: REUTERS

Since 2020, the British National Opera Orchestra (ENO) has been organizing a program to help patients with COVID-19 improve breathing, with breathing classes held once a week. Patients with persistent COVID-19 who attend the class will receive breathing exercises with exercises such as lullabies or blowing pipes. The reason lullaby was chosen as an exercise because these are short, easy to sing songs that are easy to memorize and relax.

Imperial College London researchers compared the treatment outcomes of 150 long-term COVID-19 patients. Of these, 74 took part in ENO’s six-week breathing program, while the rest were treated with the usual NHS measures, including psychotherapy. such as breathing exercises, strength training, balance exercises, and fatigue management.

The experts asked participants to rate themselves for breathlessness at rest, walking, climbing stairs and running, with a maximum score of 100. The results showed that both groups had an improvement, with those who attended the ENO program more markedly improved breathing and mental health.

Specifically, the ENO group had 10.48 points lower for breathlessness when running, 8.44 points lower for climbing stairs and 2.72 points for walking. However, at rest, the rate of dyspnea in the conventional treatment group was lower than in the ENO group.

In the study also assessed the level of improvement in mental health of patients within 6 weeks. The results showed that the singing group had an average score of 2.42 points higher than the other group.

Dr Keir Philip of Imperial College London, who led the research, said that with the prevalence of COVID-19 persisting at one in 50, finding new treatments is extremely important. “Our research shows that both breathing techniques help relieve symptoms, and the program (by ENO) is an innovative, humane and positive way,” he said.