Singing can increase one’s life span specially that is very significant in case of professional singers. Effect of singing can be seen in the long-life of Indian singers which is higher than normal population. It may be attributed to their practice which is similar to pranayama.
According to survey of (2018), average life span of an individual in India is 69.42 years. Humans have an average life span of 53.7 years in Central African Republic and 84.7 years in Hong Kong. Life expectancy in various Musicians has been studied and variable results has been observed in various groups. The aim of this study is to study life expectancy of Indian singers. Average Life expectancy is a measure of how long the average person lives in a given country. This is usually calculated by just averaging out the ages at which people die to get the mean value. Various factors contribute to an individual’s longevity.
Significant factors in life expectancy include gender, genetics, access to health care, hygiene, diet and nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and crime rates. Having some goals and responsibilities drives a lot of people to live years longer than people who feel lost or unimportant. This might be a career goal or a hobby, or even taking care of a pet. The big thing is that, in countries with high life expectancy, their old people are more likely to feel engaged. This can be a cultural difference, or it can be geographical; old people are more likely to do things if they can physically get around.
There was the list of Indian singers taken from the following categories;
1. Those been awarded Padmasree, Padmabhusan, Padmavibhusan and Bharat Ratna the highest civilian award given by the President of India.
2. Recipients of Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar , an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists.
3. Sangeetha Kalanidhi award is the title awarded yearly to a Carnatic Musician by the Madras Music Academy.
Year of birth and death was collected from Wikipedia. Singers who are alive, 2020 was taken to calculate their age. Those alive and born in 1951 or later were excluded. According to James C. Riley (2005)average life expectancy at birth was 35.8 years in India in 1950. Between 1800 and 1920, life expectancy in India remained in the mid to low twenties because of the Great Famine of 1876-1878, and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 as well as the presence of other endemic diseases in the region, such as smallpox. From 1920 onwards, India’s life expectancy has consistently increased. 1950 was taken the year as average longevity as there were no apparent known reasons for poor longevity after that year.
Results & Discussion
There were total 236 awardees , 16 awardees whose details were not available, 43 awardees born in or after 1951 and alive were excluded. Of balance 177 awardees in study 130 are deceased and 47 are alive. 125 were male and 52 were females. The number of singers in different age group is given in table 2. The mean longevity was 80.21, 79.54 years among the male singers and 81.83 years for the female singers. t-Test analysis tools test was used to see the significance and it was observed that Indian singers have higher life than normal average (p >.05). However, there was no significance difference in longevity in both sexes
Life-span rate in India was 31 years in 1935, 35.8 in 1950 and has gone up to 69.7 years in 2019. This study shows that the longevity of Indian singers is much higher (80.21) than average life expectancy in India (p>.05). Even taking average longevity by 2019 record of 69.7, the singers have statistically higher life expectancy. The result will be still higher as 43 singers in different age group are still alive and all the 34 singers of age group 60-69 are alive. ZHARINOV et al found average life of singer to be 54 while classical singers has life of 67.6. The results of longer life in classical singers is thus comparable to Indian singers.
Comparing average life of Russians in 1950 of 55.2, Indian singers have more longevity. Kenny and Asher has reported popular musicians have shortened life expectancy average 47-58 from 1955 to 2015, compared with comparable general populations. They attributed excess mortality from violent deaths (suicide, homicide, accidental death, including vehicular deaths and drug overdoses) and liver disease. Only one of the Indian singers had been reported to die due to road accident.
What could be reason for this variability? May be the lack of data of non-popular singers in India is giving false high value or it is because a different music system of Indian music giving longer life to Indian singers? Here I draw the attention on Pranayama.
In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali an ancient Indian sage, describes pranayama as a process by which you can break your unconscious breathing pattern and make the breath long, easeful, and smooth. Most people’s unconscious breathing patterns are anything but easeful and smooth; they tend to be tense, shallow, and erratic when we are afraid or hear bad news, we often gasp, inhaling and then holding the breath. These breathing patterns can activate the sympathetic nervous system (often referred to as the “fight or flight response”).
Pranayama helps to improve general well-being
One of the primary reasons that pranayama techniques that foster a long, smooth exhale are so beneficial is because, when practiced correctly, they can support the parasympathetic nervous system and activate what is commonly known as the “relaxation response,” reducing stress and its effects on your body and mind. Pranayama is the formal practice of controlling the breath, which is the source of our prana, or vital life force. Pranayama has been advocated for treatment of Chronic obstructive Pulmonary disease , Bronchial Asthma , cognition, anxiety and improves general well-being. Pranayama helps to increase the parasympathetic activity.
When we consider Indian singing, to begin the practice, one has to hold a frequency of note for a longer time. The practice of Hmmin learning Indian singing is same as Brahmari Pranayama and practice of “O” is same as Udgeeth Pranayama. One can easily say that learning Indian music is a better form of Pranayama where rhythm of music with long exhalation makes it more symmetrical. Further concentration in music leads to reduce anxiety and tension. This may explain the longer life of Indian singers. More study may be considered on this subject and emphasis can be given to incorporate vocal Indian music for entertainment and healthy long life.
Also Read: What is music therapy? Know its healing power
CONCLUSION
Long-life of Indian singers is seen to be higher than normal population. It may be attributed to their practice which is similar to pranayama. So, incorporation of singing can increase one’s life span. Specially that is very significant in case of professional singers. The breathing pattern, pranayama also plays significant role in singing.
Vivek Kumar Jha
Associate Professor(Speech Pathology & Audiology)
Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology
Faculty of Behavioural Sciences
SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana
Email: jhavivek98@yahoo.com
Mob: 95602 76840
