Tis the season of the sneezin. AACHHOOO!!

On with the video. Yes, some of us poor, unfortunate souls suffer in the spring and summer months with all the allergies, the pollen in the air, the pollution in the world. It might even just be cats, like I suffer from, or anything else. It could be something that sets you off, that makes your eyes puffy, that makes you get snotty, that makes your voice get hoarse and, or make you wheeze even. There can be lots of things that cause us to, to feel uncomfortable speaking and to, and to actually have something that affects our voice. And so what can we do to counteract these things and maybe improve our situation and not let these seasonal allergies get to us? And in this video, it's gonna be five tips plus one bonus tip at the end. So really it's six tips, but it just sounds so much more interesting to say.

There's one bonus tip at the end, and hopefully it keeps you holding on for that final bonus tip. And not just searching for the bonus tip at the end, which is in fact tip six. Right? Here we go. Oh, before we do though just to let you know that, the transcription of this and a much more concise blog is gonna be on my website @vocalabilities.com, where you can read this if you prefer that and read this in a bit more detail. I could be waffling on for a while in the video, so let's just hope I don't. Number one, stay hydrated. AKA drink, plenty of water. Pretty self-explanatory. I bang on about this a lot because you need water to survive. Not only do you need water to survive, but actually if you are someone who does get allergies by flushing yourself through and drinking plenty of water, staying hydrated, you're gonna actually help overcome some of that.

I know what it's like if you've got a cold or allergies and you feel kind of sticky and you think that drinking more water is actually gonna make it worse and it's not, it's actually gonna make it better. When you drink more water, you're actually helping to lubricate your, you know, provide moisture for your vocal folds which if they get dry, is gonna start causing you problems. So especially with allergies, if you're coughing or, or something's irritating you, then, you know, being hydrated is just gonna make things easier on, on your body. And so therefore, less effort when you're speaking or singing. Some people talk about maybe using lemon water. And whilst lemon is healthy, it's not necessarily something I would drink in hot water. And I'll tell you why. It's because it's a diuretic, which means it, it kind of can dehydrate you.

So not that it's really gonna be touching your vocal folds when you're drinking, but you, as you're drinking, if you hot water, you'll inhale some of those fumes and that could actually dry out your, I mean, it's really good to, to breathe in warm water and hot water that you know, the vapor from that. But if you have lemon in it, it could actually dry out your vocal folds. So something else to, to, to keep in mind. So anything that's really not caffeinated or not alcoholic plain good old fashioned warm water is the best thing you can drink anyway let alone just for your voice and to help you with allergies and overcome them. Maybe, maybe just, just support your body. All right? And so sticking with the moisture, theme number two is use a humidifier. Now this is something I never knew existed until I moved to Finland, because where I'm from in the UK we had to have a dehumidifier because it got so moist and there'll be mold everywhere.

But here it gets so dry because of the cold temperatures and especially, you know, the extra radiators and I guess air coolers or whatever. So you need to put moisture into the air. And depending on where you are in the world, what the temperature and the, the humidity's like, you might want to consider adding extra humid humidity <laugh> in into your environment. A lot of people when you, you drive, for example, you've got AC on that's like dry air passing through. And also if you're going on an airplane that's dry air or even ferries and, and most office buildings now you don't, you're not allowed to open the windows, especially in the tall ones. So they'll have air conditioning and this is really bad at drying you up. Not only are you spreading kind of lots of dust and other people's illnesses, you know, around a building or in an environment where these things are, but also it's the air is dry. So you really want to

think about how often you're in these dry environments and whether you can put humidity into that environment. So by getting a little box, you fill it with water in, it just puts moist vapor into the, into the air. So you're breathing that I was working for, for a couple of years on a ship between Helsinki and Talin and I was singing and I had to do five shows a day,
Five one hour shows a day for a week at a time. And that was very hard work. And I had two humidifies in my room because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to perform. A lot of people lose their voice and you if you keep doing that, you're gonna create problems. So I wanted to look after myself and, and I got out of it fine. And I was able to perform to the best of my ability throughout the week. And my voice hadn't gone by Friday. So there was something to be said for keeping your voice you know, the environment and the air you're breathing more humid. Three, avoid irritants. Now, chemicals essentially are irritants. Pollution is gonna irritate you. If you're someone who has allergies to pollen or natural things like that, the last thing you wanna do is add to that.

So certain deodorants, cat hair, dust, chemicals that you use in the house. I, also don't do well with some synthetic detergents, so I try and avoid them cuz they make me very snotty. So yeah, so any, anything that's in your house, you could look at maybe organic versions of or ways of reducing the chemicals in your life and in your household because that might just help. So consider chemical irritations, other natural irritations. And if you live in a heavily polluted area, you know, big city, try and get out to nature more often. Actually, something I do, I never realized until I moved to Finland, cause I play guitar and I have an acoustic guitar, is that my guitars started to warp and go out of tune. And I didn't understand why, but this because of the dry air and someone else told me a luthier, someone who makes guitars. He Said that if your guitar is well kept in the right humidity, in the right temperature, it's, it's gonna be the same as what is optimal for humans.
So if you have a guitar and it's working well that you could be in a good environment, but if it's too dry or too hot or too cold or or too moist even, it's gonna affect how the guitar sounds. So if the guitar's working perfectly, you should be working perfectly. It's something worth paying attention to. Four, rest your voice. You don't always have to be speaking. Sometimes you could take a break and if you are have got allergies and you're going through a period, you know, some, sometimes it happens throughout the year at different spots, right? Maybe that's just time to be quiet and take it easy. Maybe actually maybe that you are, you are responding to these pollutions or these allergies because your body's a little stressed anyway. So maybe stop talking so much. Don't do so much exercise, just relax a little bit.

Take take a chill pill, drink lots of water. But yeah, sometimes the best thing you can do for your voice is to not use it for a while and just give it a rest. Five, take allergy medication. There are over-the-counter products that you can use. I'll be careful about using antihistamines for me. They make me very drowsy. But you can get non-drowsy ones. And I've got friends with cats and I'm allergic to cats. So I o often have one of those before I go over there and I'm fine. And, and cuz I don't take them every day, I'm not around them every day. It suits me perfectly. And I don't get allergies in Finland perhaps cuz there's less pollution than in London. But yeah, I've been fine here. It's, it's a very different landscape. Sorry, my thing just cut out.
So I had to change my card in the camera anyway. Yeah, so I don't, I don't suffer so badly here. And so environment plays a, massive part in this where I was, I, just have a look at my notes. Yeah, I was talking about medications, right? So use them, they're there, they can be, you know, they're getting better every year I think. I'm not sure, but they work for me. So worth trying for yourself if you're a little worried about taking them. I'm sure there's natural versions. And speaking of natural versions, I'd like to discuss with you one that I heard about some years ago. And I'm not sure on the validity of it. I'm not sure I, know there have been some studies on it. It in a found one in Indonesia where they were doing this.

And it's a, it's an old wive's tale as far as I know, but some people say that if you have allergies to pollen in your local area, bonus tip, bonus tip, bonus tip, that that you can actually get local honey or honey from bees that have created honey out of the pollen in that area. And there's a, and, and taking and eating lots of that honey is gonna be an antidote to the whatever you're allergic to in that pollen. But it has to be local bees because it has to be from, you know, the same environment where, where you are having the allergies. I dunno what truth there is in that. But some people like swear by it and some people are testing on it and it'd be interesting to know and it's worth you knowing in case you, you are likely to really just want to try anything now because it's getting terrible for you.

But all of these things combined, you know, considering, you know, drinking more water, making your environment more humid if it is not, avoiding irritants where you can resting your voice and you know, maybe taking some medication and eating local honey, all of these things could combined just make your voice sing again, you know, or speak again or whatever it is that's happening when you lose your voice. Look. So if you want to go any further with your voice and actually take a more dedicated course of action, there are courses on my website or on the teachable platform as well. And I just wanted to let you know that there have been a few people that have pirated my courses and selling them online bad quality and without the, personal one-to-ones that, that you available to you if you have my courses, like asking questions, for example, getting answers.

Yeah. And that's put put a big stress on me being able to produce these videos because it's, you know, it costs me money to live and it costs me money to create this stuff. And so I've not been so so much online. I've not been producing so many videos cause I've had to find other ways of making money. And so for those people that have pirated my courses, shame on you. And for those people who have bought them, double shame on you. No half a shame but shame. Anyway. but yeah, so if you are, if you are interested, please speak to me or come to my website, vocaabilities.com or to the Teachable site where you can get the course, the way it's designed and properly and not be giving money to these pirates who are just stealing from others, which is despicable if you ask me. Well yeah, there's my little moan and groan. I hope you're all well and I hope this upcoming season doesn't cause you too much allergy problems. I'm Darren McStay. This is Improve Your Voice and until the next time, look after
Your voice.