Your weekly dose of mental sunshine...

How are you feeling today?

However you’re feeling, I’m hopeful that this weeks tip for mental sunshine will help you to feel a bit brighter and lighter.

It's another simple one, but might make you feel a bit awkward:

This week is all about singing...

Yes, just put on your favourite song, and sing along!

The louder the better.

The song that immediately steps up my energy levels is Dignity by Deacon Blue.

As soon as I put it on in the car and sing along to my heart’s content....

Actually, on my own in the car is the only time I’m allowed to sing along!

As any parent of a teen will know, my parental singing is immediately met with “Ugh, shut up dad, you can’t sing!”

I think a lot of us will feel self-conscious doing this as it's not something that’s a part of our everyday life.

It can really brighten your day though!

No, this is not my ship called Dignity...

There’s actually some science here too: the vagus nerve connects your brain to many of your main internal organs, and is the main component of your parasympathetic (or “rest and digest”) nervous system.

When the vagus nerve is working well, we respond well to the world around us. When it is not, we can find we’re really affected by what goes on around us - often in a negative way.

When we increase our vagal tone, the body is able to return to that state of “rest and digest” after a period of stress. And singing is a great way to stimulate the vagus nerve and improve its tone.

It doesn’t matter what you sing along to - though obviously a happy song will probably lift your spirits

Singing can help you to feel happier, and also more calm and relaxed.

Even if you start bopping your heads along to the tune can make a difference to how you feel

Exactly what you need as we head into the weekend!

What’s your favourite high energy track to sing along to?

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If you are new you can catch up on all my previous weekly mental sunshine tips here