Hydrate to Heal Hoarseness
The fix for infrequent hoarseness
Writing about drinking water in the middle of July seems pretty appropriate. Across most of the country, temperatures are soaring, we're all spending a great deal of time outside enjoying the wonderful weather at home and on vacation. Many exercise enthusiasts live for this time of year when sunny, cloudless days make everything from morning jogs to sailing weekends a pleasure. Most of us naturally drink more water during this time of year because of the warmer temperatures. Sadly, as we move into the fall months, many folks will drink less and less of this vital fluid and suffer for it.
Singers must stay properly hydrated all the time. The demands placed on the voice during singing require proper moisture balance in the mucus membranes that cover the entire vocal mechanism. Even with proper moisture balance, the aggressive nature of gospel singing can easily lead to vocal inflammation resulting in broken capillaries on the surface of the cords. The tiniest of all blood vessels found in the human body, capillaries sound an alarm to the protective systems of the body when they become damaged. What is the body's response to this damage? Inflammation. With symptoms that range from redness to pain and swelling, inflammation acts as the body's first line of defense against trauma.
Now I know this is getting a bit technical, so I'll nutshell the medical lesson for you. The uncomfortable, thick, painful sensation you feel in your throat after you have overdone it, is your body's signal to you, that it has already begun to fight to bring itself back into balance. Inflammation (and its uncomfortable side effects) is the body erecting a wall between the place of trauma and what caused the trauma. You must cooperate with the body's healing mechanism by resting and rehydrating immediately.
This article would go on for days if I mentioned in detail all of the things water does for your body. In short, water is like a car that is made out of health. Everywhere it travels in the body, it delivers what it is made of - balance. Health is the absence of dis - ease and the presence of wholeness - (nothing missing, nothing broken). Water is its chief ambassador. To get an idea of the many functions water performs in the body, click HERE.
The fix for infrequent hoarseness
Writing about drinking water in the middle of July seems pretty appropriate. Across most of the country, temperatures are soaring, we're all spending a great deal of time outside enjoying the wonderful weather at home and on vacation. Many exercise enthusiasts live for this time of year when sunny, cloudless days make everything from morning jogs to sailing weekends a pleasure. Most of us naturally drink more water during this time of year because of the warmer temperatures. Sadly, as we move into the fall months, many folks will drink less and less of this vital fluid and suffer for it.
Singers must stay properly hydrated all the time. The demands placed on the voice during singing require proper moisture balance in the mucus membranes that cover the entire vocal mechanism. Even with proper moisture balance, the aggressive nature of gospel singing can easily lead to vocal inflammation resulting in broken capillaries on the surface of the cords. The tiniest of all blood vessels found in the human body, capillaries sound an alarm to the protective systems of the body when they become damaged. What is the body's response to this damage? Inflammation. With symptoms that range from redness to pain and swelling, inflammation acts as the body's first line of defense against trauma.
Now I know this is getting a bit technical, so I'll nutshell the medical lesson for you. The uncomfortable, thick, painful sensation you feel in your throat after you have overdone it, is your body's signal to you, that it has already begun to fight to bring itself back into balance. Inflammation (and its uncomfortable side effects) is the body erecting a wall between the place of trauma and what caused the trauma. You must cooperate with the body's healing mechanism by resting and rehydrating immediately.
This article would go on for days if I mentioned in detail all of the things water does for your body. In short, water is like a car that is made out of health. Everywhere it travels in the body, it delivers what it is made of - balance. Health is the absence of dis - ease and the presence of wholeness - (nothing missing, nothing broken). Water is its chief ambassador. To get an idea of the many functions water performs in the body, click HERE.