Class went fairly well this afternoon, mainly because I’ve got a good, engaged bunch of students. The omens bode well for a good semester.
Me, lecturing
I was also feeling a bit dehydrated. I’m going to start bringing a water bottle to work and take regular swigs throughout the day. Minnesota winters don’t help much, either: humidity bottoms out when it’s this cold, as my spiders will attest.
When walking outdoors in the cold I have noticed I get a dry cough, as the airways get irritated by the icy air. As we age the self-repair mechanisms slow down.
Try to save your vocal cords, no Ted Talk stuff.
When the temperature bottomed out this weekend and hovered around -20 to -10 for a couple days, we started boiling a pot of water in the kitchen to try and get the RH higher than single digits. It helped a little, but we all still woke up with dry throats and noses, and our hands were all starting to crack painfully. The high today is 24 though, and it’s snowing, so things have improved a tiny bit.
Drink liquor. It’ll do wonders for your voice.
And take up smoking, maybe?
Well if your voice gets rougher, you can take up Mongolian throat singing and sing Wolf Totem . That’s a cool song btw I like to dance to it . It’s by the Hu and it’s on YouTube
PZ & Walter are on my wavelength, although smoking pot rather than tobacco. (Actually, I mostly vape pot these days.)
brightmoon @ #5 — I always think of it as “Tuvan” throat singing a la Genghis Blues, but I know there are other forms of that including some European versions. I got to hear Paul Pena for part of a show with Stephen Kent (didgeridoo) at a small venue in SF shortly before he passed.
And is “The HU” pronounced “The Who” by any chance?
Blame someone else! Ideally, the victim. For example:
“If I did not have to answer your endless droning questions, I would not be hoarse. But, to answer your question, uh, what was your question again?”
Robro, the Mongolian throat singing is a little different from the Tuvan style. Yes, the name is pronounced “The Who.” I got to see them live at a local venue recently. They were beyond awesome!
Neti Pots are the BEST for keeping the throat hydrated, flushing out germs and allergens, etc. The one “wellness” thing that apparently has solid data backing it up.
Obvs, use distilled water (w a saline pak) so you don’t get a brain-eating amoeba.
Gee willikers! The last time I saw my Aurora Mummy was the 23rd of August 1964, before a house fire rendered it a puddle of plastic. Luckily, the house survived.
;-)
Gee willikers! The last time I saw my Aurora Mummy was the 23rd of August 1964, before a house fire rendered it a puddle of plastic. Luckily, the house survived.
;-)
Never had that kind of problem when my wife was alive, we were always talking to each other.
Now, not so much talking, as I never was one to go out much without a good reason.
As for winters, well, what can I say? Winters make one prove that one’s the most desiccated employee…
So, the answer is obviously @3 and @4, to truly do the job right. Maybe chew some rock salt while you’re at it.
Or go with the water bottle and oh, the men’s room is nearby?
I never thought about how humidity affected spiders! Is there variation between them, or a general ideal range?
Anecdotally, Covid seems to have an uncanny affinity for vocal cords/larynxes. People at my work seem to be constantly clearing their throats nowadays, voices are off, and notably tire during the day. All people with multiple SARS COv2 infections. It’s not as bad as the cancers and the dementias and Parkinsons’, but it’s noticeable.
@rorschach
Is cannabis legal in your area? I cough more now for reasons. I’m not suggesting you are wrong.
Thirding the HU rec. That shit slaps.
I find a thermos of hot tea more soothing than plain water. If the caffeine is a problem, then an herbal tisane could be substituted (I often switch to lemon verbena in the late afternoon).
Disuse promotes atrophy, impairing performance.
“Internal musculature is the primary group of muscles involved in phonation by either abducting or adducting the vocal folds. The sole abductor of the group is the posterior cricoarytenoid. The muscles, lateral cricoarytenoid, thyroarytenoid, interarytenoid, and cricothyroid, all act together to adduct the vocal folds.”
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535342/)
Gotta build back up, slowly.
(Pretty sure that’s what PZ wrote in the OP)