Looking after your throat

Your throat is like a fine tuned instrument in that it requires care and attention. It is comprised of blood vessels, nerves, muscles, tissues and glands and is a fascinating piece of equipment.

It performs a range of vital functions such as the ability to speak or sing but it can be misused. The throat is prone to misuse or abuse which can result in short or long term damage.

So, it needs to be looked after.

A common problem is a sore throat but in most cases this is preventable. Often it is your lifestyle which is responsible for this but there are a few changes you can make to ensure that it is no longer at risk.

There are two areas which have a major impact upon your throat. One of these is your lifestyle and the other regards throat or to be more specific, voice related occupations which can also impact upon your throat.

Both of these areas are discussed within this section and are:

• Lifestyle factors
• Professional speakers and singers

If you smoke, drink to excess or are overweight (or obese) then these factors increase your risk of a sore throat or a throat disorder.

This equally applies if you use your voice for a living. If you are a professional speaker or a singer then you are at risk of straining your voice which can lead to problems. These include throat polyps and laryngitis.

Many of us take our throat for granted and only take any notice when something goes wrong such as a sore throat. In the majority of cases this is due to an aspect of our lifestyles, e.g. smoking which can be dealt with.

The following section discusses lifestyle factors in more detail.