Are Smoking, Drugs Or Drinking a No-No For Singers? How a Singer's Vocal Health is Affected

A singer uses their human body as a musical instrument & thus it is crucial for a singer to stay in the best health possible.

Smoking, marijuana, drugs and alcohol are all known to affect the human body.

For singers, these factors have a very huge impact upon their vocal cords, singing voice & musical ability. The impact is mostly negative...

Let's first cover smoking cigarettes, cigars, hookah, those new-trendy electric vaporized cigarettes & marijuana.

Before we do that, it is important to understand that ANY type of smoke is harmful to the vocal cords, the lungs & the body. Smoke dehydrates the body which eventually dehydrates the vocal cords themselves, it also reduces the flexibility of the vocal cords which makes it harder to coordinate the vocal cords. In addition, smoke from ANY type of smoking- whether it's hookah or marijuana damages the tissues of the vocal cords gradually.

Now that we've established the fact that any type of smoking is harmful to the voice. Lets cover how each different type of smoking affects the voice.

Cigarettes- Optimal lung function is crucial in singers. Tobacco, nicotine & tar are all known to harm the lungs. In addition, there are over 300 different types of chemicals which are poisonous, toxic & carcinogenic to the body found in cigarettes. These chemicals affect every little CELL in the body which includes the vocal cords, voice box & the lungs of a singer.

Cigars- Are not meant to be inhaled but the large amount of unfiltered smoke produced & tobacco found in cigars cancels out any "protection" from not inhaling the smoke. The smoke definitely reaches the lungs & causes significant harm due to the large amount of unfiltered smoke. The vocal cords are most affected from cigars. Ever notice why most cigar smokers have a very raspy & beat up voice?

Hookah- This smoking trend has gained popularity among the young generation of college students & high school students. If you are a singer, hookah is extremely harmful. Despite the never-ending myth that hookah is completely harmless since it has no tobacco, hookah IS harmful. I've looked up all the scientific studies & research into this, a hookah produces large amounts of toxic substances which gradually ruins health BUT... for singers it is very harsh on the voice & quickly stiffens, dehydrates & toughens the vocal cords. The amount of smoke & chemicals produced from hookah are all very harmful to the vocal cords, even more so than cigars & cigarettes.

Electric Vaporized Cigarettes, Cigars, & Pipes- This new technology uses vaporized smoke produced by either food additives & contains nicotine with no tobacco. So far the health effects of this type of smoking are unknown & not studied. However nicotine is harmful to the body. My advice is to simply avoid this type of smoking even if you use no nicotine to smoke because the food additives used to produce the vaporized smoke could be harmful to the lungs & vocal cords. In other words, better stay safe than sorry.

Smoking is not an option for singers, especially for those looking for a career in singing, it IS deadly. It will age you quicker, ruin your voice gradually, halt any improvement you might have seen from vocal lessons, & cause a loads of problems to your health.

But...

What about marijuana? Many singers, musicians & entertainers use all types of drugs including marijuana to "enhance" their creativity. They certainly DO enhance their creativity & their talents skyrocket- different drug substances effect each person differently. However this positive effects are SHORT-TERM. Gradually a higher drug dose will be needed to sustain the amount of creativity in music & singing before attained from a smaller dose.

In addition, side effects will occur to the health physically & mentally.

Singers, Musicians & Entertainers can accomplish the amount of creativity & talent they get from drugs use, long term by learning how to meditate.

This is another topic & subject on its own.

But getting back to drugs...

For serious singers it is not an option at all! I can understand why many famous singers have done drugs. I won't point any names but you must understand that these effects are only obtained when you are on the drugs & you will need more drugs to sustain the positive creative effects. Your mental, physical & emotional health will start taking a toll.

If you are looking at a career, you may have a few hit singles from the result of your drug-induced creativity but that does NOT seem all very impressive...When you realize that you CAN accomplish the same amount of creativity by learning how to do it naturally without the use of drugs.

Moving on to alcohol...this again has the same side effect & consequences as drugs if abused. Alcohol drunk responsibly & in reasonable amounts will not harm a singer.

Coming to the conclusion, is smoking, drugs or drinking irresponsibly acceptable for singers?

From a subjective point of view you can certainly argue it to your favor BUT....from a OBJECTIVE point of view it defiantly is not recommended for the serious singer, performer, entertainer and/or musician.

I hope any singers may take this piece of advice for their own good.

Kelly Keller is dedicated to helping struggling singers deal with problems they have with their singing, vocal range, musical ability & singing performance.

Kelly currently runs a website to help singers here http://www.SingingMiracle.com.