Everything that you put into your body affects your voice. Healthy foods and drinks can soothe your voice and make it sound better. The reason is simple; your vocal cords are part of your body. Drinks have a huge effect on your voice. Here are three drinks that can heal, maintain, and improve your vocal chords:
1. Hot Tea - While the caffeine in black tea is bad for your voice, if you drink green or herbal tea with a little bit of honey, you’ll enjoy the soothing qualities of the drink on your vocal cords. Do not take too much honey, as it’s very sugary.Lemon tea is a delicious a therapeutic treat.
2. Water - Nothing better than the simplest drink of all. Water is the one drink in the world that actually isn’t in one bit bad for you. It helps flush everything down and it cleans and dampens your vocal cords. Herbal teas are also good (though at a room temperature of course).Water is excellent. It thins the mucus and lubricates the vocal chords. Reduced friction of chords equals longer lasting voice.Make sure you don’t drink cold water, it’s bad for your voice. Water at room temperature is the best for your voice.Any water you drink goes first to your stomach, liver, kidneys etc – it’s only excess water after that which goes to your saliva and vocal folds. That is why if you’re not drinking enough water your vocal folds etc won’t be properly hydrated.
Drink up to 8-10 glasses of pure water every day (any caffeinated drink does not count). Water thins your mucus and lubricates your vocal cords like oil lubricates a car engine. Thick mucous causes friction and trauma to vocal cords. More water, less friction, less trauma, better voice.
3. Soda Water - Just a bit of unsweetened soda water can help a sore throat and make speaking easier. But take it easy on this one, and don’t substitute Sprite or 7-Up, both of which contain a whole lot of sugar. Sugar can cause mucous build ups, which sound nasty when singing.
We make things worse when we drink sodas, coffee, or alcohol, all of which are natural diuretics, encouraging urine production.
