As you may already know, singing takes a lot of effort especially if you are new to singing. Oftentimes new singers exhaust their vocal cords by either singing for way too long periods of time or by simply forcing their vocal cords. Luckily there are several things you can do to prevent that, by drinking ginger tea you will notice a significant improvement in your vocal quality. Ginger in one form or another has been used for thousands of years to treat certain conditions and even illnesses.
Yes, ginger is good for the voice due to its healing characteristics, ginger contains a lot of antioxidants, and it has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agents. If you have ever had a sore throat you know how painfully difficult could be to sing with it, however consuming ginger will significantly improve the quality of your voice by reducing the inflammation in your throat.
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There is a huge lack of knowledge or even ignorance when it comes to singers’ diet, but trust me it is as vital for any singer as the daily practice and warm-up sessions. If you have read my recent article ( Top 18 ) Foods to improve singing voice, you will find that nutrition is a big part of taking care of your vocal cords. One of the major problems for beginner singers is that they do not have a reliable source from where to inform themselves about what kind of diet should a singer have.
Oftentimes new singers ask friends what they eat to improve their voice, however, most of the time the answer is either to hydrate yourself or some urban legend in the singing circles like eating raw eggs, which I do not recommend. Consuming ginger in no matter what form has been proven beneficial especially for singers, it has great anti-inflammatory properties and it is full of antioxidants.
In addition to this, ginger has also an antimicrobial effect, this, of course, depends on the type of ginger you consume as some do contain more antimicrobial agents than other types of gingers. Simply put, if a singer consumes ginger before singing it will help them avoid a sore throat, and even aid in recovery after a long singing session, which we all know can become fairly painful especially for beginner singers.
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Eating ginger can protect you from losing your voice
Beginner singers oftentimes lose their voice after long singing sessions, this loss of voice can occur right after the singing sessions or on the second day when they wake up. Lossing your voice usually means that you have strained your vocal cords and you need a break, but this could have been simply avoided with a good diet and vocal practice. If you read my recent article How to improve voice quality naturally ( 10 Quick and Easy Steps ), you will find out several ways how to practice singing correctly in order to avoid straining your voice.
Usually, people, who suffer from loss of voice and use ginger tend to drink ginger tea, combining the tea with warm water and honey has extra benefits. In addition to the healing effects of ginger, the added honey and warm water can also help you with your loss of voice. Just keep in mind that it will not instantly recover your voice, usually, it takes from a couple of hours to a day. In cases where you have a loss of voice during the evening, it is especially beneficial to drink a ginger tea right before bedtime, as while you are sleeping your body can use all the beneficial nutrients contained in the ginger to heal your vocal cords.
Just keep in mind that not all causes of voice loss are the same, while some can occur after long sessions of singing which will result in strained vocal cords which become inflamed, while other reasons for losing your voice could mean that there is a bacterial infection. Ginger tea could also help with the bacterial infection however if the symptoms persist you should ask the advice of a doctor as oftentimes you will be needing antibiotics if the infection is severe enough.
Ginger tea is good for singers
When making your ginger tea you should always use honey instead of sugar, as honey has also anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. The water should be warm, but not so hot that you burn your lips, the actual temperature tolerance is different for everybody so you should figure out what is the right temperature for yourself. Adding limes or lemons to the ginger tea could also speed up your healing process as these do contain a lot of antioxidants and vital vitamins like vitamin C.
In order to achieve the maximum recovery effects which the ginger tea offers especially for singers, you should consume it while it is warm. There are a lot of teas prepackaged containing ginger, however, most of these do not have nearly enough ginger in them to be able to get the full beneficial effects of ginger. Most often these prepackaged teas advertise that they are “Ginger Tea”, however, if you read the package closely you will find that the whole pack of tea only has a few grams of ginger in it.
The very small dose of ginger in these teas diluted with warm water will probably have no effect on your voice. My recommendation is to either get fresh ginger if you have the possibility and make your own tea by slicing up a few slices of ginger as thinly as possible and mixing them in your tea. You can also find dehydrated slices of ginger in some stores, these are also fairly good for healing your throat but only use them if you can not find fresh ginger.
Some types of singing are definitely more exhausting for your throat and vocal cords than others, singing alto for someone who is not a natural alto could easily strain your voice. If you read my recent article Famous alto singers ( Top 12 ), you will find that most of these singers at one point during their career have begun to use ginger as a natural remedy for their voice.
Ginger health benefits for singers
Usually when people search online for ginger and its health benefits is when they already have a sore throat or a throat infection already. If you are a singer, you already know how detrimental could be to sing with a sore throat especially if you have a big audition ahead of you. While drinking a couple of cups of ginger tea could improve your voice significantly before an audition, my personal recommendation is to incorporate ginger in your daily diet and not to try and heal your voice a day or two before an audition.
Having a healthy diet will definitely not only improve your singing voice but it will actually hinder the growth of bacteria and reduces the risk of inflammation. In most cases, singers who have a sore throat is due to inflammation, which could be due to cold, strained vocal cords or due to an infection. Depending on the severity of the inflammation this could be healed with ginger tea but in some cases when in addition to inflammation you also have a cold you might find that even while you eat it will actually cause pain to your throat.
This is why you should incorporate ginger in your diet, to avoid any potential inflammation and bacterial growth. As a singer, it is vital to use precautions like drinking ginger tea to avoid pain and complications, although in rare cases where you strain your voice due to not warming up or by forcing your vocal cords, inflammations can still happen.
Have you ever noticed that when drinking warm tea it is very soothing to your throat, this is due to the warm water and not due to the actual tea, this is why when drinking ginger tea it is even more beneficial to drink it while it is warm. Most people think that while drinking ginger tea the actual ginger coats their vocal cords, the truth is that this is not the case in ginger tea. The soothing effect will come from the warm water, honey, and from the lemon or lime added to the ginger tea, and not from the actual ginger.
When you drink ginger tea, you will feel a slight pinch in your throat and this is normal, generally speaking, the more ginger your tea contains the bigger this pinching effect becomes, some people even consider ginger tea as being spicy. Once the ginger tea has been absorbed by the stomach your body will use the vital nutrients, antioxidants, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory agents to heal your voice.
Depending on the severity of your sore throat, your symptoms could get better within hours. Just keep in mind that even after you consider your throat healed, to drink a cup of ginger tea before bedtime for the next 3 days, odds are that your throat inflammation has started to heal and by drinking a cup of ginger tea before bedtime for the next 3 days your throat will be healed completely. Oftentimes beginner singers simply stop drinking ginger tea when they see a significant improvement to their voice, but if you have a weak immune system the inflammation and the infection could come back and one morning you will wake up with a sore throat, at which point you have to start it all over again.
In Conclusion
Drinking ginger tea is good for not only your voice but for your entire body. Most singers do know about the health benefits of ginger, especially ginger tea and they do incorporate it into their daily diet. If you are a beginner singer and you want something to give you an edge when it comes to your voice, my suggestion is to try out ginger tea for a week, I promise you that you will see a significant improvement in the quality of your voice, especially if you are prone to having a soar throat.
