There are many daily habits and exercises that you can adopt to maintain the health and strength of your throat and voice.
If your voice is not working properly, the umbrella term for this is dysphonia.
Proper care of the voicebox and its vocal cords (the larynx) is particularly important as we get older. A voice that weakens with age even has its own official term — presbyphonia.
Problems with the voice as you get older are not inevitable though — just as care and attention to your mouth and teeth can help preserve and strengthen them, good vocal hygiene can allow you to maintain a resonant and strong voice into your senior years.
Many of the tips and tricks below are used by speech therapists in the rehabilitation of patients with damaged vocal cords, or to re-educate a voicebox that is not working properly (i.e. functional dysphonia), and I’m happy to share them with you.
Drink enough fluids
Aim for about 2 litres of clear non-acidic, non-caffeinated fluids per day (i.e. water!).
Avoid alcohol, which dehydrates you and your voicebox, making it produce more mucus which may well be also thicker and more difficult to clear.
Sugar-free chewing gum or lozenges may encourage saliva production to help lubricate your throat.
Take care with your diet and eating habits
Eat in a regular pattern each day if at all possible. In particular avoid eating late at night, and avoid spicy foods and/or alcohol — all of these daily factors protect against acid reflux from your stomach into your gullet and throat which, if it occurs, irritates and burns the vocal cords and voicebox. For the same reason, take your time over meals — do not rush your food!
Please see my information leaflet on swallowing difficulty and laryngopharyngeal acid reflux for further advice.
Avoid irritating environments — and don’t smoke!
All the air that we breathe in has to pass through the voicebox in order to reach the lungs. As a result, if the air contains irritative additives such as dust, car fumes, pollen, chemical fumes and in particular tobacco smoke, the voicebox will be adversely affected. Speaking in such an atmosphere will make your voicebox susceptible to inflammation and damage and should be avoided at all costs. Such irritation in the longer term can lead to cancer of the voicebox and lungs.
Be aware of throat clearing
If the voicebox is irritated and inflamed, it will often lead to the feeling of the need to throat clear. This causes a vicious downward spiral of symptoms, as the constant (and often harsh and aggressive) manoeuvre of throat clearing leads to further inflammation and swelling of the vocal cords and worsening symptoms.
Unfortunately, constant throat clearing becomes a habit that often you may not even be aware of. It sometimes takes an annoyed relative or friend who points it out to you when it gets on their nerves!
It’s therefore really important to break out of this downward spiral and stop throat clearing.
If you feel what you think is mucus in your throat, have a sip of water to wash it away or have a silent ‘huff’ (exhale sharply with mouth open) to dislodge it. A short controlled cough is also better than a throat clear.
If you feel mucus in your throat in the morning, this may be a symptom of acid reflux and you may need to address this as mentioned above, but it also may be a sign of post-nasal drip from your sinuses, which may need to be addressed by a consultation with me — please see my information leaflet on rhinitis, sinusitis and nasal polyps for further information.
In this situation, gargling with warm water and/or salt water may help. If you think the mucus is coming into your throat from the back of your nose, salt water nasal douches may also be helpful.
Maintain a relaxed posture of the head, neck and chest
The position and posture of your head, neck and chest has a significant influence on how efficiently the voicebox works. It is particularly important to avoid tension and stiffness in these muscles, which if they do get stretched or stiff can put strain on the voicebox by making you use accessory muscles, or put excess strain on the vocal cords themselves when you speak.
It’s therefore important to work on relaxation techniques for the muscles of your throat and your head and neck as follows:
- Stretch the back of the throat by yawning silently as often as you feel necessary.
- Lift shoulders to ears, hold for a count of 6 and release. (Repeat 3 times.)
- Look to your left shoulder, hold for a count of 3, and look to your right shoulder. (Repeat 3 times.)
- Tilt your left ear down to your left shoulder, hold for a count of 3, and then tilt your right ear down to your right shoulder. (Repeat 3 times.)
- Drop your chin onto your chest, and very slowly roll your head up to one shoulder, open your mouth and roll to the other shoulder. Bring your chin slowly back into the middle and rest it on your chest. Hold for a count of 6. Repeat the exercise in the opposite direction.
Use your voice carefully and be aware of your breathing
Use a moderate and relaxed voice at all times. Do not shout and do not whisper — whispering puts a lot of strain on your voicebox too!
Be aware of your breathing. Do not talk too fast or strain to push out too many words with one breath. Relax, take a breath and continue.
If your voice feels tired or strained, or if you are hoarse or have a respiratory infection, then rest your voice — don’t talk! Do not try and push your voice in these situations; it is likely you will make things much worse in a short space of time. The only way through circumstances like that is to rest your voice completely to allow it to heal.