Knowing how to recover your singing voice after illness can be a royal pain in the bum. Singing after illness or after bouts of vocal fatigue (especially when viruses, colds, sinus issues, or mucous-heavy bugs have hit you) can frustrate and annoy even the most skilled singer.
Put simply, there is a certain amount you cannot control — you often have to let an illness run its course. However, there are also things you can do to minimise the derailing effect of symptoms during that course. There are also simple things you can do to ensure your voice is as good as it can be once the virus has finished its run.
In this post, I’ll take you through six key tips I use as part of my regimen to:
- Get my voice through a tricky throat virus or cold-based sickness
- Alleviate how the symptoms can further aggravate the voice
1. Drink more water, reduce diuretics like caffeine
When you’re in the full throes of a bug, you need to stay hydrated. Particularly with excess mucous, the more water you provide your body with, the easier it will be to shift. A doctor once advised me that the reason flu capsules make you feel better so quickly is not because of the paracetamol or other drugs, but because of the caffeine. It naturally makes you feel better when you’re rough, so go ahead and enjoy a coffee or tea.
However, at the tail end — when it’s the last bit of mucous left — caffeine’s diuretic effect really affects my ability to shift it. The mucous gets thick, difficult to clear, and promotes extra coughing. Try to reduce caffeine, coffee, tea, and soft drinks, especially as you recover.
2. Sleep and vocal rest
When you get sick, or hit the wall with vocal fatigue, you need rest. Exercise and general energy expenditure prevent recovery. You can’t heal if you’ve already drained your reserves (cortisol, adrenaline, etc.).
In one recovery, I forced myself to bed at 9pm every night and added a 2–3 hour nap in the day. A lot of people return to singing far too quickly, before they’ve even recovered.
So if you get sick, seriously — go to bed.
But what if your night-time rest is disrupted? Or the ailment worsens at night? That’s where the next point comes in.
3. Beware of post-nasal drip
This one is a colossal pain. The cold can often be minor, but as they end, post-nasal drip begins. Infection remnants lingers in the sinuses and drip onto your vocal folds and chest at night. This can lead to a heavy chest in the morning, but can often create morning voice issues, swelling and dysfunction, etc.
I had a particularly bad instance of this a few years ago. I’d go to bed with a normal voice, wake up in the night with a burning throat, and rise in the morning with a swollen, wrecked voice. It felt like I’d screamed myself hoarse each night.
It took nearly a week to recognise the signs and intervene. This was so damaging I had to cancel over a week of sessions. To illustrate just how bad this is, I’ve recovered to a functional level from laryngitis in two days. Post-nasal drip was significantly worse.
What helps:
- Stay hydrated and rest (see points 1 and 2)
- Prop yourself up at night with extra pillows to reduce drip landing on vocal folds
- Nasal irrigation — clears infected material; only with sterilised water, never straight from the tap
- Steroidal nasal sprays — e.g. Beconase (Beclametasone dipropionate), used sparingly and per label instructions
Standard disclaimer: I am not giving medical advice, just sharing what I personally use. Post-nasal drip can be minor, or it can wreck your voice. Take action if it persists.
If you’d like help fixing your voice that’s been badly affected by illness, and putting together a bespoke plan to help you keep your voice on track, you can book an initial consultation with me right here.
4. Reduce mucous-stimulating foods and inflammation triggers
Your vocal folds have a natural mucosal lining, but throat bugs often lead to excess production. This creates that gungy horror in your throat. Don’t add fuel to the fire: milk, eggs, chocolate, yoghurt, and similar foods can make it worse for many people.
Inflammation is also an issue, so avoid excessively hot food or anything that mildly triggers your allergies. It takes experimentation to know what matters for you.
Extra tip: A chemist client who worked on Boots’ chesty cough mixture told me the key active is guaifenesin. A 400mg dose helps thin mucous, making it easier to clear.
5. Stop coughing so damn much!
We all cough and clear our throats far too often. Constant coughing is damaging. Instead, carry a bottle of water — when you feel the urge, take a sip to soothe instead.
Sometimes you will have to cough, but it’s rarer than you think. Once you stop over-coughing, your voice recovers faster and stays less irritated.
6. Lip bubbles and semi-occluded exercises
Lip bubbles are a type of semi-occluded exercise. They create gentle back-pressure on the larynx and are low-impact. If I can vocalise, I use them to:
- Keep my voice ticking over during illness
- Shake off mucous gently without coughing
- Rehabilitate the voice as it returns
One winter I had a throat cold that lingered for over a month. Once the worst passed, I spent a full day rebuilding my voice. 60% of that practice was lip bubbles or similar exercises, retraining my voice to move correctly. They’ve also helped with post-nasal drip recovery.
Wrapping up
These are my six main tips for coaxing a voice back after a bad throat bug. They’re what I find most helpful, and most singers find at least some of them useful too. You may discover other strategies with experience.
I don’t personally subscribe to singers’ teas or throat pastilles. For me, rest, diet, respect for your body, and correct application of technique are enough to return to singing after illness.
If you’re finding you regularly struggle with illness or wear-and-tear taking out for your voice for long periods, I’d love to help you rectify that. Book in an initial consultation to start work with me and we can address those issues. We can build a simple repeatable routine to help get your voice back on track – and keep it there.