We’ve both noticed that drumming lifts your mood, and it turns out that there’s bags of evidence to back this up. Even if you have no previous drumming experience, research shows that people find group drumming sessions uplifting, cathartic and energising. Creating community and a shared sense of achievement, we firmly believe in the power of drumming to unite and connect us. It’s also brilliant fun!

I decided to take a quick peep at the research into the health and wellbeing benefits of drumming. As I’m a bit of a nerd, my ‘quick peep’ became a full deep dive, and there were some pleasant surprises too! For example, drumming can:

• reduce depression & anxiety
• help menopause symptoms
• alleviate the impact of ADHD 
• help process trauma

Even if you have no prior drumming or music experience, and even if it’s a one-off session, any form of drumming, rhythm or music-making is therapeutic. This is why we’re so excited about creating Burnout Beaters, sharing the proven benefits of group drumming with people who could really do with a boost.

Here are ten ways that drumming supports your wellbeing, and in our next blog, I’ll be focussing on how drumming prevents burnout.

Here are ten ways that drumming supports your wellbeing, and in our next blog, I’ll be focussing in depth on how drumming helps to prevent burnout.

1. Drumming improves your mood

The most obvious and immediate drumming benefit is improved mood, even after one session. It’s energising, too! One study found that participants left a 45 minute group drumming session feeling more awake, more relaxed, more cheerful, more friendly, and more clear-headed. 

Further research also shows that participating in drumming activities produces 

• feelings of euphoria
• ‘flow states’ (energised focus & deep absorption)
• a sense of accomplishment, particularly when people realise how easy it is to make a great sound, even if you have no previous drumming experience!

2. Drumming helps release emotions & process trauma

Drumming can feel like a release, and the research backs this up! One study found that group drumming acts as a grounding experience that both generates and liberates energy. Broader research into expressive music-making consistently shows that people find this a cathartic way to release negative emotions. If you’re having a rubbish time, bashing a drum might just help. 

By drumming with your hands alternatively, you’re stimulating both sides of your brain. Known as ‘bilateral stimulation’, this has been proven to help emotional processing and you may have heard of ‘EMDR’, a type of therapy that uses this approach to process traumatic experiences or memories. One group drumming programme was found to reduce PTSD symptoms, and some EMDR practitioners are now incorporating drumming into their work with adolescents. Bilateral stimulation activities or exercises (including drumming!), to help regulate emotions, ease stress & anxiety and reduce distress by calming both your body and mind. 

This useful NHS resource includes simple bilateral stimulation exercises you can do at home to ease overwhelm or distress. 

3. Drumming helps prevent burnout

Physical and mental exhaustion are core components of burnout, and drumming can help with both of these. A study involving one-off drumming events for employees found improvements in their emotional states, alleviating the depletion that comes with burnout. Drumming restores energy! Another study involving care staff in the US makes the business case for group drumming & employee wellbeing, finding significant reductions in burnout and mood disturbance after a 6-session group drumming programme. The projected savings from reduced staff turnover were estimated at $1.46 billion across the industry, if rolled out at scale. That’s a figure to take notice of.  

A third study at a mental health facility found that a group drumming programme designed specifically as a staff burnout prevention initiative was described by participants as fostering a sense of belonging, relaxation, renewed energy & productivity, enhanced mood and a sense of accomplishment, leading the researchers to conclude that drumming may represent a powerful and cost-effective burnout reduction strategy for people working in demanding care settings. 

4. Drumming improves brain neuroplasticity

One project looked at the benefits of just 8 weeks of drumming practice for complete beginners. Alongside the participants’ increased confidence and sense of accomplishment gained from learning a new skill, MRI scans of their brains found:

• changes to the areas of the brain that help us mirror or copy another person’s actions 
• changes to the brain’s ability to control impulses
• physical growth in the part of the brain that controls co-ordination and movement (cerebellum). 

5. Drumming releases happy hormones & improves health

Studies of one-off group drumming sessions show impressive results. 

As well as improving mood, other benefits include reduced cortisol levels (the main stress hormone) and improved cytokine markers (supporting immune function).  

Music is also known to trigger dopamine, our brain’s ‘reward’ chemical, which explains why we enjoy great rhythm so much. Alongside this, the rhythmic arm movements involved in drumming trigger the release of endorphins, our natural painkillers / mood-lifters, which is why we’re confident that you’re likely to leave a session with us feeling calmer and more upbeat (pun intended)!

The Royal College of Music reports that drumming has a positive impact on mental health, finding that a 10-week programme of group drumming reduced depression by 38% and anxiety by 20%, and improved social resilience by 23% and mental wellbeing by 16%. Other studies have found that drumming helps people with mental health issues. 

Research also shows that rhythm and drumming interventions can help with sleep difficulties, stress/anxiety, fibromyalgia, stroke rehabilitation and Parkinson’s disease. NHS Wales have funded drumming for wellbeing workshops and even developed a drumming app to help people with Huntington’s disease. Drumming therapy is also used in some addiction treatments to help release emotions, reduce stress & boost mood. 

6. Drumming can alleviate menopause symptoms

As we both know all too well, menopause & perimenopause bring an array of symptoms that map closely with those that drumming has been proven to help with: mood swings, anxiety, poor sleep, and generally not feeling like yourself. The evidence shows that a single drumming session can measurably lift mood and lower stress hormones, and it’s cathartic to bash something! A room full of women creating rhythm together is a profoundly powerful experience, and we’d love to do more of this through Burnout Beaters. 

7. Rhythm can help manage ADHD symptoms

Like many of my generation, I was unaware of my own ADHD until my child was diagnosed and I recognised the same symptoms in myself. So I was particularly interested to see that even a one-off drumming session can help reduce ADHD symptoms, by focussing on the present, channelling physical energy, releasing pent-up emotions and improving co-ordination. 

If regularly practiced, the steady beat of a drum can even help improve concentration. Research shows that when we hear a consistent rhythm, our brain’s neural activity synchronises with it. How mindblowing is that! Called ‘brainwave entrainment’, studies have shown that a rhythmic training programme improved attention, co-ordination and academic performance in children with ADHD. You can try this yourself at home using metronome exercises.

I’m also autistic, and have often wondered if my love of drumming is somehow linked to this. I find the repetitive practice soothing, maybe it’s a form of stimming?  I couldn’t find any specific research into this, but did find that an 8 week drumming programme for autistic adolescents reduced hyperactivity, inattention & problematic repetitive behaviours, improved emotional regulation and brain changes linked to inhibition control and self-regulation. 

One thing we’re conscious of is that loud drumming can be overwhelming for some autistic people. We use small cajons in our sessions as they’re more accessible and significantly quieter than a typical drum. 

8. Drumming is a form of mindfulness

I often talk about how drumming acts like a ‘cognitive break’ for my brain, as it knocks all other thoughts out of my busy head. If, like me, you struggle to calm your brain and be fully present in the moment, you may find drumming a rare, welcome moment of mindfulness and a distraction from your day-to day worries.

9. Drumming boosts your self-esteem & confidence

Small successes, such as learning a new rhythm, provides a sense of accomplishment and builds confidence. I believed I had no musical skill whatsoever until I picked up a drum at the age of 50, and finding that I do actually have an innate sense of rhythm (as we all do!) gave me a much-needed boost. The community & connection I’ve found drumming with other people has also boosted my social confidence. Here is a moving article about one man’s drumming story & how it helped his confidence following the isolation of bereavement.  

10. Drumming connects people

Many of the studies I’ve looked at show that participatory music-making, including drumming, has been proven to support people’s sense of connection. Drumming together creates an intense shared experience and group identity, and some researchers describe how the vibrations & sounds of drumming create meaningful communication beyond verbal language, which is particularly helpful when talking doesn’t help. 

Drumming also connects us to our past, tapping into shared cultural histories or reconnecting with earlier versions of ourselves (do you see what I did there..). 

Group drumming creates togetherness and belonging, making it an ideal team building exercise. By bringing people with different backgrounds and life experiences into the same room and sharing a fun, energising activity builds social bonds that can extend well beyond the sessions themselves.

Conclusion

In true Anna fashion, this blog has ended-up rather wordy! But there’s so much to love about drumming, I was excited to find that the research backs up my own experiences – and also to find some additional benefits I wasn’t previously aware of, too.

These ten ways that drumming supports wellbeing support our case that anyone can benefit from our drumming sessions. Creating rhythm together generates something powerful that transcends talking and hopefully, this blog will convince you to give it a try.