Is it bad for me to sing when I'm sick?

Question:I have a very bad sore throat these days...But I can't stop singing!! What can I do?! Is it harmful?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have a very bad sore throat these days...But I can't stop singing!! What can I do?! Is it harmful?

Hello Setareh,

A "bad sore throat" indicates infection and swelling. The throat is often the body's "barometer" telling you that your body is fighting infection.

I empathize with your desire to keep singing. However, while you have a sore throat it is advisable to stop singing. Infection and soreness in the throat is about an inch from the vocal cords. When you continue to sing - exercising the cords, blood flows to the surface of the cords - just like it does to your face when you exercise vigorously (you get flushed in the face). It is then that the cords are most susceptable to becoming infected with the same germ as is causing soreness in your throat. So, singing while having a sore throat is tantamount to inviting the infection to your voice. When this happens you end up with "laryngitis" - at which time you lose part or all of your voice - until you allow your body to deal with the infection and recover fully. Continuing to try to sing under those conditions can lead to lasting damage. Also, it is good to know that the throat has relatively few pain nerve endings - unlike our hands and fingers. (This is the reason why some folk seem to be able to drink piping hot tea without realizing that it's burning their throat.) So, when we feel pain in our throat - we need to pay attention.

My advice is that you take a break from singing - talking and especially whispering while you have a bad sore throat. Recovery depends on how severe the infection is and how strong your immune system is. When you recover, your voice will be the stronger for having left it alone during the days of throat infection.

Now, to help the process of recovery, drink lots of clear fluids (water, apple juice, and cran-anything juices), take lots of vitamin C every day, Echinacea - and if you can, garlic too. These things will help flush the toxins from your system as well as aid your own immune system to beat the bug. Besides this, get more than your usual hours of night's sleep.

If you want to be able to sing do all you can to get well.

Best wishes.

Singing is good....no harm as long as you are happy :)

If you're a pro and you need to be in top level every time you sing, definitely it's bad! But if you sing just for fun as a hobby, then the guy above me is correct.

You should invest in some duct tape.

Pretty sure most duct tapes are non-toxic.

So long as you can produce decent tone with no great increase in pain, you'll be OK. Make sure you do really good vocal warm-ups before singing, and don't push it as hard as you can unless you have an important performance...

Point of fact, many singers report that after a spell of the rhinovirus, they feel their voice improves. So keep rehearsing and when your health gets all the way back, you should be happy with the results.

it depends on how u really feel.
if ur really sick and not feeling well then might as well take a rest for a while then maybe it might help you sing better.

You have a sore throat because you are singing and straining your vocal cords.

Depends if you are professional or not. If you are professional, than you might want to calm down a bit, having a sore throat means that the vocal cords may be dry, meaning that it can cause vocal nodes, and if these vocal nodes remain from over using your vocal cords, they can become permanent (via body preventing future damage). These nodes can cause hoarseness in the throat, if permanent... well... permanent hoarseness.

Teachers, singers, actors, and public speakers all have to worry about nodes.

A way to prevent nodes while you have a sore throat is to drink luke warm water periodically to keep the moisture in your throat. Another is to avoid spicy/acid foods.

Best bet is to rest your voice. I have the trouble of non-stop singing as well, but being in music theater... I have to learn to stop. Vocal rest is the best way to go for now.