Singing as exercise? [Archive] - Soulforce Community Forums

Daniel

04-01-2008, 08:37 PM

The article is very short. Found it cute. :p

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/01qna.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

From the article:

On the other hand, a 2005 study suggested that singers’ prolonged use of their lungs set off an increase in the hormone leptin, making the brain resistant to it. Leptin, made in fat cells, helps the body keep track of fat storage, and a resistance to it might lead to weight gain, the author suggested.

What is prolonged use? This I don't get. We breath all the time. We all have- in that sense- prolonged use. Yes- singer's breath with more ribcage expansion, but so do many athletes- and they aren't getting fat. ;) Yes- they are burnign more calories....point granted!

Common sense tells me why singers can tend to be overweight.

It's tied into the whole adrenaline and glucose levels in the body. In singing an operatic role- the body is gorged with high levels of adrenaline- and glucuse levels can get messed up. One gets a real high from performing. Afterwards- there is a crash. And what does the body want to do to come back to 'normal'?

Eat!

It's that simple. There's another factor: you have singer's eating late at night after a performance when the body doesn't metabolize things very well. So what does it do? Store the calories.

This has been my observation anyway. Of course, there may be another reason- what some might call an oral fixation, which is a matter more related to mental health.

But you know what? The day of the fat singer is over over over. I work for an opera company and can tell you that overweight singer's are only hired for specific roles that call for that. Otherwise, the operatic world is now very visually oriented. And frankly, while people still love to hear a great voice, they want that voice in a nice looking body.

Is that body facism? Perhaps. One has to be extraordinarily gifted to have a career now and be 300 pounds.

And so it goes....