Voice training: tips and 4 exercises for a healthy voice

A battered or rough voice is usually inconvenient in everyday life. We show you tips and four exercises that you can use to train your voice and keep it healthy.

We use our voice every day to speak, whether professionally or privately. We don’t notice how much it actually does – until it signals its exhaustion or overwork with roughness, hoarseness or a need to clear the throat. It is not difficult to make the voice more resilient in the long run. With a few exercises and tips for proper voice hygiene, you can train your voice and prepare for stressful everyday situations.

Voice hygiene: tips for a healthy voice

(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / congerdesign)

Voice hygiene – what is that supposed to be? Dental and oral hygiene with the care of teeth and mouth are well known to all of us. In fact, voice hygiene aims at the same thing: it is about maintaining the voice. Especially people in speaking professions such as educators, teachers, coaches, customer advisors and many more can benefit from voice hygiene. So before you start actively training your voice, you should know what supports a healthy voice.

Good to know: The vocal folds – popularly also “vocal cords“- create the tone of the voice by making the air in the lungs vibrate. They consist of muscles, which are covered with a fine and very sensitive layer of mucous membrane. To put it simply: If this layer of mucous membrane is healthy, the vocal cords can also vibrate well and produce a sonorous voice.

• Drink a lot. Better sip than all at once – so the mucous membranes on your vocal cords can ensure that they are well moistened throughout. Best suited for your voice tap water or herbal teas with a short brewing time.
• Breathe through your nose, not by mouth. In this way, the sinuses can warm the breathing air and filter out coarse dirt particles.
• Provide enough physical movement and sleep. Anyway, it’s good to be careful with your body’s needs.

• Pay attention to one good posture while talking. The vocal cords are like the strings of an instrument, our body like the sound body. A folded guitar cannot sound without the necessary tension of its strings and the resonance space of the sound body.
• Can morning warm-up programthat you can use to train your voice. It also helps to warm up the voice before lectures or important conversations.
• Singif you feel like it. This trains the voice and makes it more flexible. For example, this is particularly fun in the shower. However, think about warming up beforehand.

Voice hygiene: what can harm the voice

(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / StockSnap)

• coffee such as green and black tea can have a drying effect on the mucous membranes. Reduce consumption if you have a dry and itchy feeling in the throat. Or how about Coffee substitute from regional coffee alternatives such as cereals, dandelions or acorns?
• Dairy products is said to have a mucilaginous effect on mucous membranes. Reduce their consumption if you feel a lump in the larynx area, often clear your throat or cough up phlegm. Be sure to drink a sip of tap water after consuming dairy products. There are also Alternatives to cow’s milk: vegetable milk as a milk substitute.
• menthol breathing can irritate your vocal folds. Avoid chewing gum or candy that contains this if you often feel the need to clear your throat.
• Very hot and very cold dishes and drinks irritate the mucous membranes. Let both take on a more comfortable temperature, especially before heavy voice stress.
• Also spicy and very acidic foods can have a negative impact on your voice.
• (Cigarette) smoke and dust damage the sensitive mucous membranes on your vocal cords.

• You probably already suspect: alcohol does not oil the voice – it damages the mucous membranes by irritating and drying them out. You should avoid alcohol, especially before or during vocal stress. Maybe ours would be Recipes for delicious non-alcoholic cocktails something for you?
• Do not speak against if possible Background noise at. Close the window when it is loud outside and you are talking.
• Avoid whispers. It particularly strains the vocal folds.
• The most important point comes to the end: try this Clear your throat get used to it! When clearing the throat, the vocal cords rub against each other with a lot of pressure and the mucous membranes can be damaged. So the more you clear your throat, the more the scratchy feeling and the hoarse voice sound come back. Instead, you can: swallow, take a sip, do warm-up exercises number two and four, easy and light cough. It takes time to get used to, but it’s worth it.

What to do when a cold approaches and the voice hurts and gives way? Or if only a croak comes out of your throat after a night of drinking? We have a few for you effective home remedies that are guaranteed to help with hoarseness. Also very beneficial for the voice and good for colds homemade ginger tea.

Please note: If you experience hoarseness that lasts over two weeks, be sure to see an ear, nose and throat doctor.

Train the voice: four exercises

(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / alfcermed)

It is especially important in the morning that you warm up and train your voice before speaking for the first time. Both the vocal folds and the other larynx muscles should be gently activated before you have long conversations. You can of course also use these exercises during the day if you can anticipate a stressful conversation situation. Integrate these exercises into your normal daily routine and link them with other actions: for example in the shower, in the toilet, when cleaning the dishwasher, when washing dishes, while brewing tea, before or after brushing your teeth. So you can train your voice on the side.

1. Stretch and stretch while getting up. Yawn hearty and train your voice with a relaxed sigh. You can also do this if you have to sit for a long time – it relaxes your body and your larynx muscles.
2. If your throat is very dry or your voice is busy, the following exercise will help: Drive your teeth slowly with your mouth closed with the tongue to. Palpate each tooth first on the outside, then on the occlusal surfaces and then inside. Do this with the upper and lower teeth. This exercise increases salivation and, for example, helps you swallow mucus on the vocal cords instead of clearing your throat.
3. Circling your shoulders. This releases tension in the back and shoulder area. Alternate between forward and backward movements. However, always end with circular movements as they open and widen your chest. This exercise can also be done during long periods of sitting.
4. Take your hands to loose fists and pat your rib cage. To do this, make an “f” with a clearly audible air flow. Inhale through your nose into your lower abdomen. If that works well then go to an “w” in a relaxed, pleasantly deep voice. It is important that you hear a clear air flow even with the “w”. You can practice your voice with this exercise by letting it play: high, low, top to bottom, bottom to top, imitate songs. If your hands are not free in everyday life, just leave the knocking out. This exercise helps very well, especially if your voice is mucous and thick – you can then easily cough up or swallow emerging mucus instead of constantly clearing your throat.

The most important thing in this warm-up program is exercise number 4. It activates the vocal cords, trains your voice effectively and makes it more resilient in the long run. The “w” can also be combined well with the shoulders. If you integrate this exercise into your everyday life, the resilience of your voice increases gradually.

Tips for a healthy voice on the phone

(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / Alexas_Fotos)

• Imagine when talking on the phone that your conversation partner can see you and take one accordingly upright posture a. Your voice adapts to your posture and you can speak with less effort.
• Don’t speak too loud, otherwise you will strain your voice in the long run. This is especially true for video calls. May help you too **Headphones with integrated microphone?
• Make sure that you’re not down too much while talking on your documents look. This position constricts your larynx and the voice has to apply an uncomfortable amount of pressure to speak. If you use a laptop for video calls: put a few large books under so that you can see as straight as possible when speaking.
• Smile again and again during the call. This makes your voice warmer and friendlier. This can make it easier to establish contact with the other person and cheer you up.
• If you can set it up: treat your voice between strenuous phone calls or video conferencing Breaks. For example, check your emails or do something else.
• If you feel tense in your throat after the call, you can train your voice and relax at the same time: Yawn and practice number four.

Tips for a healthy voice in the home office

(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / Free-Photos)

In the office you are probably always on the move: ask colleagues in the other room something, go to lunch together, run errands, generally the way to work and back again. In the home office, however, the following applies in particular: If you have a lot of phone calls or video conferences in front of you, don’t sit at your desk unheated in the morning. The temptation is great – however, you will probably have to make the upcoming talks with a lot of pressure on the voice and repeated clearing of the throat in order not to sound hoarse or busy. This can cause damage in the long run and lead to a Voice disorder to lead. If there is not enough time in advance, you can also use the desk described before the first phone calls Warm up exercises go through and train your voice.

It is also important:

1. Change again and again your sitting position. Vary between a relaxed and an upright posture. Circles in between with the shoulders. All of this prevents tension, which also has a bad effect on your larynx muscles and thus your voice.
2. Open about every half hour the window. This is particularly important in dry rooms or with heating air so that the mucous membranes on the vocal cords remain well-moistened. Stretch and stretch on the occasion. Imagine a timer in case you forget it.
3. Make sure you always have a glass tap water or one warm tea stand on the desk. How about one Organic tea from our leaderboard?
4. Pay attention to the above Tips for (video) calls.

Overall, do you find it difficult to structure yourself when working within your own four walls? Maybe our help Home office tips to work efficiently from home.

Read more on Techzle.com:

• Herbal tea in the test: many toxins, organic is better with tea
• Cold tea: These varieties help against cough, runny nose, sore throat
• Relaxation: These exercises and techniques slow you down