Oh darn! โน๏ธ You’re ๐ค again? Sorry to hear that! Get well soon. We’ll cancel today and reschedule when you’re all better. โฅ๏ธ
Tag yourself. I’m the #๏ธโฃ instructor who just texted that to their sick student before cancelling a voice lesson. Did you tag yourself as the #๏ธโฃ sick student. Cool. No judgement. But you may want to read on if you’re frustrated by getting sick often or having to ๐ฃ through a sickness. We all have to do it sometime and I actually think that by singing through a sickness, we can boost our physical and mental health ๐ง ๐ฆพ. But I’m not spoutin’ fax, I’m just speculating here. ๐ These people are spouting the actual fax. But you can open that in a new tab and read that later ๐ค. You’re here for MY list…
So here it is, plain and simple (some of these are obvious, but let’s get you all caught up on the same Paige [not a spelling mistake, I assure you]). ๐
The 9 Things to Do when You’re Singing with a Sickness
1. Drink Loads of Water Tea โ๏ธ
Water is tea. Tea is water. No fooling here. Water is chill, yeah, but tea has so many other benefits. Besides from a nice cup of tea being hot and relaxing to hold, some teas are great antioxidants. Matcha tea is my fave. ๐ต BUT, don’t add sugar! Add ๐ฏ and some ๐ to spice it up! ๐ถ
2. Sleep ๐ด
Use this handy dandy formula to figure out how much extra sleep you’re going to need when sick with ‘n’ being the new number of hours of sleep to get! ๐
n = [the normal number of hours of sleep that you get] * 1.25
If you normally sleep for 8 hours, then my sick algorithm for sleep wants you to sleep for 10 hours. You can do this!
3. Stretch ๐โโ๏ธ and massage ๐โโ๏ธ
Sickness is a great excuse to reconnect with your body. We’re all too often just brains of human beings. Be a body again ๐งโโ๏ธ!
4. Blow ๐คง, don’t sniffle
Perhaps this seems silly, but for real, this one is underrated. It is so tempting to sniffle all those lovely nose juices right back up into our sinuses, but that can leave us even more congested and (at least for me) it causes more post-nasal drip because I didn’t get it all out in the first place. Post-nasal drip is usually the actually silent-but-deadly killer of the voice and not even coughing! That tidbit I actually got from my ENT! Now, I’m spittin’ straight ๐ !
5. Steam/Warm Showers ๐ฟ
Literally my fave tip! Smoke the monster out!! ๐
6. Eat Salty ๐ง and Spicy ๐ฅต Things
An excuse to eat the whole bag of chips ๐ฅ! Salt has a cleansing and purifying effect. Plus, chips kind of scratch the throat on the way down, not gunna lie. And spices help to clear the sinuses and boost metabolism ๐ฝ.
7. Warmups ๐ and Cooldown ๐
Lots of breathing stuff, lots of sirens, lots of buzzing, lots of humming. Call me if you need help! ๐ค
8. Avoiding Sugar ๐ฌ
9. Vocal Rest ๐ซ
If all else fails, just take a breather. To make it actually effective, you’d need to be on vocal rest for more than just a day, but honestly, even just a few hours of stillness helps!
If you are sick right now, know that I’m thinking of you and rooting for you ๐! Of course, these tips are great for general wellness and can boost your singing abilities in any weather! Sing on, champ! ๐ฉโ๐ค
Contact me for lessons below if you’re interested in learning more about how to take care of your voice! I’d love to work with you!