PHLEGM IS THE ENEMY! 5 tips to keep voicing through colds and allergies

You’re a professional voice user, and your voice is filled with crud. You’re stuffy and your throat feels thick and phlegmy. You have to track a piece, or give a speech, or sing for an audition or a show. How do you care for your voice AND do your job? Here are my top five recommendations:
 
5. Drink tea

1. Teas with ingredients that list Slippery Elm Bark are especially soothing to the throat. They create a nice, slippery coating that let’s your voice slide out easily. Try drinking warm liquids, not hot or cold; they open and relax you, without creating a backlash response to the extreme temperature. Many folks are strong proponents of honey, especially Manuka honey for various reasons. Every body is different, so pay attention to yours!

 
4. Hydrate
Hydrating thins mucus in your body. The thinner the mucus, the less stuffy and stopped up you’ll be. To thin out your body’s mucus:

• Water is life – your mother was right! Drink more fluids. And then drink more.
• Limit caffeine and alcohol – both of these dehydrate.
• The Dairy Controversy – If you read the mouth noise blog, you already know that some studies have shown that dairy does not create mucus, but other studies maintain that dairy does thicken the mucus in your body. Pay attention to your body and mouth after eating those foods – it may not have any effect on you, but it’s worth the experiment.
• Be careful with medicines that dehydrate (antihistimines, decongestants, etc), acidic foods like lemon, and medicinal lozenges. Again, every body is different – notice how yours reacts.

 
3. Gargle

• Gargle with a saline solution – dissolve salt in warm water and gargle. You can do this fairly often!
• If you are losing voice, add a little hydrogen peroxide to the mix. DO NOT SWALLOW. Use about a teaspoon per Cup.

 
2. Focus your resonance
Mask resonance and continuing consonants to keep the voice focused in the front of the face and not in the back of the throat. It’s easy to let vocal technique get lazy when we’re sick – it’s more important now than ever! This helps you sound more like your usual self, and works around that “sick voice” sound.
 
1. Neti pot/ Saline spray
This is my personal favorite. Because mucus is the enemy(!), and it’s the post-nasal drip that causes your sore throat and many vocal challenges, stop it at the start. Wash it out of your nose with a neti pot or saline spray. Blow your nose like crazy. Get that mucous out of your body so it can’t trouble your voice!
​I have heard from a rare client that a Neti pot has caused a sinus infection, so please use distilled or saline water, and keep your pot clean! See your doctor if you have any concerns about sinus infections.
 
Hope these are helpful to you in cold and allergy seasons! Please let me know your tricks by posting a comment here or tweet @jessActs