Impromptu humidifiers

I was a sophomore in college and everything that I had worked for in the past three months led up to this cold weekend in the middle of November.  I was scheduled to sing in the Minnesota NATS singing competition, but something happened the day before I left that threatened my entire preparation: my voice was raspy, tired, weak, and fragile.  The next morning, it was pretty much gone.  It was a combination of getting over a cold and the brutal dryness of a Minnesota autumn.

When we got to Collegeville, I was ready to tell my teacher the bad news: I couldn't sing in the competition.  Unwavering, he reminded me that I didn't sing until the morning, so there were some things to try.  Knowing how dry the air was, he told me to do three things: stop talking (or making any noise), start drinking water - and a lot of it, and use a humidifier while sleeping.  The problem was - I didn't have a humidifier.  I was hours from home, a broke college kid, and desperate for time.  What he taught me changed how I thought about impromptu humidifiers.

This trick only works if you have a bathroom next to the room you sleep in, like a hotel.  But if you ever need humidity for vocal purposes, run hot water in the bathtub and let it sit over night.  You will be surprised (and maybe a bit grossed out, too) by how humid it is.  To add more humidity, don't run the fan while taking a shower (though most hotel rooms don't have fans because there is no way for the moisture to get out).

This may be one way to help your voice when you are in a pinch.

What Preachers Can Learn From Steven Tyler

Though he is obviously not a Christian artist, we can learn a lot about God's creation of the human voice, its limitations, its problems, and modern technology with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.

For our purposes, only the first 6 min and 30 seconds of the segment are beneficial, but it is really interesting.

It's Cold Season, pt. 4: Coughing and Clearing Your Throat

Perhaps the most common problem with vocal faults during a cold comes from the constant coughing, clearing your throat, or even the hacking (whatever you call "loosening up the phlegm).  In some cases, it is unavoidable, so don't sweat it.  

In most cases, however, it is simply something we do consciously because having junk in the throat and lungs is uncomfortable.  But as thrilling as it is to have victory over the phlegm that is plaguing your throat, you are actually not helping the matter.  

Coughing and clearing your throat, whether you are sick or not, damages your voice.  It can be likened to rubbing sandpaper on your cords.   

I know that I haven't shown what healthy vocal folds look like, but here is an example of someone who has coughed persistently.  Notice the bleeding of the vocal cords, its not hard to miss. 

So what should you do instead of coughing?  Try these things:

1. Drink water.  Water helps thin out phlegm and keep the vocal folds hydrated.  

2. Instead of a loud, normal cough, try loosening the phlegm with an inaudible cough.  Instead of a normal cough, its more like a hard hitting a vowel more.  "ah, ah, ah" not "ha ha ha."  Its called a glottal stop, if that helps.  

3. You can try vocal exercises.  Go high and low without stopping with your voice.  Much like choir warm ups when you were in high school.  This should help naturally loosen the stuff off your folds.

But again, sometimes, its unavoidable.  So, be cautious and listen to your instinct on what you need.

It's Cold Season, pt. 3: Mucus

Mucus is not the kind of thing that I like talking about simply because its gross.  There is a reason why the Musinex commercials spotlight ugly green monsters lounging in the lungs.  But, it is a reality that comes in greater measures to us when we have colds and sometimes it can really be problematic.

When dealing with the issue of mucus during a cold, we must first remember that mucus, in and of itself, is not bad.  In fact, you always have mucus in various places throughout your body.  It is a helpful aid in not allowing tissues to dry out, and provides protection from foreign bodies entering into the lungs through the nose and throat.  

During colds, however, mucus can be a hindrance.  It clogs your nose, coats your throat, covers your vocal folds, and irritates your lungs.  This leads to some of the major "No-no's" in the voice world: coughing and clearing your throat.  

I will write a full post on the problem of coughing and clearing your throat during a cold in another post, but first we need to address the instigator to the problems coughing and clearing creates.  

What do you do when mucus hijacks your upper-respiratory system and causes voice problems?

1. Stop taking cold medicine and allergy medication.  You might think this sounds crazy, but there is good reason to do this (if you are on any special allergy medicine, check with your doctor first).  First, cold medication and allergy medication dry out the nasopharynx. Normally, this is a good thing, but when it comes to the voice, hydration is the key.

2. Stop drinking coffee and soft drinks.  This might be even harder than #1.  Coffee is the Baptist drug of choice and God bless it!  However, coffee has a very high amount of caffeine in it.  Caffeine is a natural decongestant, which means it works against hydration.  Eliminating coffee for the duration of your cold (about 7-10 days) shouldn't be too difficult.  If it is, you have an idol on your hands and we need to have a more important discussion.  Also, though pop (yes, I am from the north) has a significantly less amount of caffeine, it still has caffeine and works against hydration.  One other problem with pop is that it is basically liquid sugar.  Sugar is an interesting chemical for the vocal folds because it actually makes the swell a bit.  So if you are already having problems with mucus on the vocal folds, sugar is only going to create less room for your folds to do what they are designed to do.  

3. Start drinking water.  The most important thing for your voice is to get hydrated.  Drink water and lots of it.  Water will help thin out the mucus naturally.  Allow for time to work on this.  Water always works from the inside of your body to the outside, meaning that water will never pass over your vocal folds (unless you are aspirating).  Rather, it goes to your stomach and is distributed to your folds later.  Many people are dehydrated generally and don't even know it.  Colds will make you more dehydrated especially if you are taking cold medication.  The rule of the thumb for hydration is called the "pee-pale."  If you pee-pale is clear - you're in the clear for hydration.  The darker it is, the more dehydrated you are.  You may have to go to the bathroom a lot when you start drinking more, but that will gradually get less.

4. Take an anti-mucusal medication.  Instead of cold medication, get an anti-mucusal medication.  Products like Robitussin, Musinex and their generics have an ingredient called guaifenesin.  Guaifenesin works to thin out your mucus, making it pass easier.  This only works, however, when you drink a lot of water with it.

5.  Get some food and some sleep.  You cold and your voice will not heal if you are weak and tired.  Make sure you are getting a proper caloric intake and a good amount of rest.  

6. Avoid coughing and clearing your throat.  This is the hardest of all, but it is so crucial not to do this.  Be looking in the near future for why this is a bad idea and what you can do instead.  

7. Get a humidifier and use it every night.  Again, the key is hydration and in these late fall/early winter months the air is very dry.  A humidifier will help.  Also, try turning off the fan in the bathroom when you shower so you can breathe in the steam from the shower.

8. Lay off dairy products for a while.  Dairy products actually increase the production of mucus and should be avoided if possible when having a cold.

Your cold is not going to last that long, but the damage done to the folds in the midst of a cold can last longer.  Take these suggestions with a grain of salt and rest up this week as you get ready to preach the Word faithfully.  

Its Cold Season, pt 2: Hoarseness and Laryngitis

I'm not sure about you, but I can generally trace how long my cold is going to last based on the symptoms that I have.  It usually starts with a sore throat, then a stuffy nose, followed by a longer term of blowing my nose, then I will begin to develop a cough.  When the cough comes, I know that I am at the end of it.

However, one thing that happens to me in almost every cold that I get is either a hoarseness in my voice, or a loss of my voice.  This usually happens all day, or just in the late part of the day.  In either case, it is a frustrating time for me since my daily activities require my voice: whether it be singing, counseling, or just being with people.  

If you face a similar situation in that your voice is hoarse or it is gone, here are a couple of things to think about:

1. What medications are you taking?  Are you taking any cold medications or allergy medications?  Generally speaking, most over-the-counter cold medications and allergy medication are meant to dry up your mucous membranes.  Pseudoephedrine and other cold medication is meant to give you an awake feeling while clearing your chest and nasopharynx.  An antihistamine (for allergies) does basically the same thing, along with some other stuff (inflammatory).  Don't get me wrong, drying up those mucous membranes is a good thing.  But, they often deplete the vocal folds of much needed hydration in order to properly function.  Hence, these products have a negative effect on your vocal folds.  What I often have to do, and I hate doing it, is get off of my allergy medication during my cold, drink tons of water, and take a a medication with something called, "Guaifenesin."  Guaifenesin is a good chemical that actually thins out mucous, helping it pass quicker.  It is the main ingredient in such products as Robitussin, Musinex, or any mucus relief medications.  The trick is, however, that you have to make sure that you drink a lot of water with it.  One thing that may help is drinking warm water.  For some reason, this can temporarily help (I usually add a pinch of lemon juice in hot water).  Remember, water NEVER passes over your vocal folds (unless something is physiologically wrong), but warm water helps for whatever reason.

2.  How much caffeine are you drinking?  Again, like the cold and allergy medications, caffeine is a natural decongestant and it actually works to dehydrate you.  If this is a problem, trying laying off the coffee or the Coke for a week or so, step up the water drinking, and see what happens.

3. Are you over-using your voice?  When I have a cold I try to make it an effort to keep my words few.  Vocal rest is perhaps the best medicine that we can give our voice when it is down and out.

4. How much sleep are you getting?  Vocal rest when you are awake is one thing, but vocal rest while sleeping is all together better.  You might wake up with a lot of crud in your throat that you are going to want to cough and hack up, RESIST THIS URGE (I'll explain why in a future post) and drink hot water, take a steamy shower with the fan off.  If you can take a nap at all...DO IT!

No one likes to lose their voice, especially preachers and worship leaders.  Colds can be devastating to the vocal folds, but we need to do what we can to take care of the instrument God gave us.

Its Cold Season, pt 1: Stay Healthy

This post really shouldn't need to be written.  Every one of us knows how to stay to healthy: wash hands, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep, get a flu shot, avoid crowded places if possible, et cetera.

The problem is that many of us ignore these things for whatever reason.  Preachers in particular, however, need to try their best to remain healthy.  Think of the germ-infested in environment that we dwell in.  How many hands do you shake on a given Sunday?  I shake a lot.  How about during the week?  How many people do you counsel who need tissues?  I am not advocating being a germaphobe, but we need to be aware of the amount of germs that we encounter every day.  

I am not an advocate of taking things such as echinacea or Zicam, but its inexpensive and beneficial to have a bottle of hand sanitizer on your desk, or in the foyer, or perhaps even in the pew you sit in before you preach.  This sounds weird, but I have found myself sneaking off to my office quickly after the greeting time just to use hand sanitizer.  Obsessive, maybe, but my ability to minister depends on my health.  If I have a cold, its not a good idea to do a hospital visit (depending on the circumstance).  I find it a lot harder to do a Bible study at a mental health facility when I have a cold because of the stale smoke in the building.  It drives me crazy ANYTIME my nose is stuffed up...especially to preach or sing!  

What I am saying is that the first step to taking care of your voice during the cold season is taking care of all of your body.  Get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, wash your hands and so forth.  Do the things you know you need to do.  Its easy to not do them, but its more miserable to experience the effects of them.  Colds will come but you can at least take the first steps to preventing them.