0878 – Alcohol And The Voice

2023.05.28 – 0878 – Alcohol And The Voice

Alcohol

It’s unlikely you’ll be having a drink just before a broadcast show, podcast recording or studio session, but what might be the damage to your voice if you’ve had one (or several!) the night before, or for serval nights before?

Alcohol can:

·        Contribute to dehydration of your whole body – and drier vocal folds don’t vibrate properly, contracting your range and making you sound strained. I mean, you know this already right, because after a ‘session’ you feel thirsty and crave water

·        Make you produce more mucus – reducing the flexibility of your folds and needing you to clear your throat

·        Make you lose your judgement about how much you’re using your voice (for example at a pub karaoke or singing on the way home), leading to damage

·        Be sold in places like bars and clubs which are noisy, causing you to raise your voice

·        Have an anaesthetic effect that causes you to push your vocal folds harder to get a normal sensation when talking

·        Promote acid reflux and vomiting especially if you have drunk too much

·        Interfere with your sleep – and a rested voice is a better voice

·        Make you more relaxed, decreasing your heartbeat and so reducing your breath support

·        Lead to a hangover and brain fog and lack of co-ordination and clear thinking – slurred words, unable to read a script or operate a studio desk

·        Cause cancer[1]

o  Mouth cancer – tumours can also develop in the tonsils and saliva glands, lips, tongue, cheeks and gums

o  Pharyngeal cancer – your throat

o  Laryngeal cancer – at your larynx or vocal folds

The symptoms of all of these are wide-ranging and depend on where the cancer has developed.

Between 22% and 38% of all mouth, throat and voice box cancers in the UK are caused by drinking alcohol. [2]

Taking a look at some of the most common drinks:

·        Wine is packed with preservatives which may will dry out your throat

·        Beer is slightly acidic which can cause mucus

Cocktails are a literal cocktail of phlegm-causing, sugar-rush syrups, acidic juices as well as dehydrating spirits

[1] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-and-neck-cancer/

[2] https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

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