Long Covid: how singing helps overcome it, making it easier to breathe and clearing away brain fog
- After months of being out of breath, the writer joined an online choir, and was amazed at how her breathing improved
- Singing has long been used to help with respiratory problems, and can also improve sleep, mood and brain activity
Singing was the only time I felt in control of my lungs and, paradoxically, able to forget about them.
It was October and my shortness of breath had worsened after weeks of teasing improvement. I felt breathless walking or resting, lying down or sitting, working or watching Netflix, talking or silently meditating. But not while singing.
Since my likely Covid-19 infection last June, I’ve grown familiar with the discomfort and frustration of feeling as if my body is not getting all the air it needs. I’ve also come to deeply appreciate the moments when my breathing returns to its autonomous function and takes up no portion of my consciousness.
My early symptoms a year ago were fairly typical for Covid: sore throat, headache, fatigue and shortness of breath. Although I never tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, some of my doctors believe I was infected. I also suspect it, given I’m still dealing with symptoms a year later.
Music has always been part of my life, including through the pandemic. I began classical violin lessons at age five, leaving them behind for folk music six years later. I joined my first choir at age 12, which spoiled me with a repertoire of songs from around the world.
As an adult, I’ve done my best to satisfy ethnomusicological proclivities with workshops, song-sharing events and jam sessions, but I haven’t regularly sung with a choir since college. The pandemic provided a new opportunity: a “cross-countries” virtual choir.