Best Hydration Methods for Singers

May 29

Don’t wait until you’re thirsty!

Did you know that it can take up to 4 hours for the water to reach your vocal folds? So the water you drink back stage 10 minutes before you go on stage does not have any immediate effect on the voice.

Topical hydration (steaming) puts drops of water onto the surface of the vocal folds. These droplets get deposited onto the surface of the vocal folds. This kind of hydration can be effective, but is very temporary, with its effects lasting anywhere from just a few minutes to a few hours.

Systemic hydration is the most effective process. Systemic hydration occurs when you drink or eat something, then through the body's digestive process the water is extracted and transformed in your small intestine, which then flows through the blood stream to all throughout the body.

For your vocal folds, the blood vessels carry the water to layers of the vocal folds. By the time it reaches your cords, it has turned into mucous along the way. When it reaches the the top layer, the epithelium, little pumps take the mucous from the layer underneath, and spread it over the epithelium, thereby lubricating the surface of the vocal folds. Hydration is not instant; it is said to take between one and three hours. We need to consume approximately 8 glasses of water a day in order for our entire body to by hydrated. Vocal folds aren’t the first area of the body to receive hydration. The brain and other vital organs are probably hydrated first.

Often I hear students tell me they are really “mucousy” perhaps due to allergies or sometimes they blame the theatre dust. I always recommend they go hydrate. The reason its so important is because the viscosity ( thickness) of the mucous that is being pumped out over the epithelium is in directly correlated with your bodies total level of hydration. If your body has enough water to spare, that mucous will be thinner and easily spread over the epithelium. If there isn't as much water to make the mucous, it will be thicker, more viscous, and harder for the pumps to get it out onto the epithelial surface.

Being well hydrated helps the vocal folds vibrate smoothly and easily, and actually lowers the Phonation Threshold Pressure (PTP). Phonation Threshold Pressure is the amount of lung pressure it takes to make the vocal folds vibrate. Thicker mucous makes the vocal fold edges sticky and harder to release from each other. That means more friction on the edges of the folds, and that can lead to irritation of the epithelium. Dehydration challenges may also increase vocal effort.

The easiest way to prevent dehydration when you need your voice to be at its best is to stay in a constant state of hydration, not by binging on water on the day of a performance but by habitually drinking water throughout the day, every day.