Got A Minute For Your Health?: 60.Voice Your throat aches, and your voice is scratchy. It's uncomfortable to talk. Despite how important your voice is, many people leave vocal discomfort symptoms untreated. If your voice persistently draws attention to itself for more than two weeks, you should see a doctor. Many conditions that lead to voice problems, including laryngitis laryngitis, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the voice box, or larynx, usually accompanied by hoarseness, sore throat, and coughing. Acute laryngitis is often a secondary bacterial infection triggered by infecting agents causing such illnesses as colds, , are not a serious health threat, but persistent voice abnormalities could be. If you're not having a problem speaking, it's still important to protect and maintain a healthy voice. Here are some tips. 1. Rest your voice when it's tired. Just as tired muscles need rest, vocal tissues are no different. 2. Repeated throat clearing or coughing may damage tissues. Try sipping water to ease throat irritation. In fact, vocal tissues work best when they are well hydrated hy·drat·ed adj. Chemically combined with water, especially existing in the form of a hydrate. Adj. 1. hydrated - containing combined water (especially water of crystallization as in a hydrate) hydrous . Drinking plenty of water and keeping home environments somewhat humid will help moisten tissues. 3. Avoid alcohol, caffeine caffeine (kăfēn`), odorless, slightly bitter alkaloid found in coffee, tea, kola nuts (see cola), ilex plants (the source of the Latin American drink maté), and, in small amounts, in cocoa (see cacao). , and, of course, tobacco. 4. Good posture and using the correct pitch when speaking can alleviate unnecessary stress on your voice. Your voice is important to you. Don't take it for granted! Listen to Got a Minute for Your Health? on many local radio stations. Jan W. Kuzma, Ph.D., is president of Sentinel Research Services and former director of research at the School of Public Health, Loma Linda University Founded in 1905, Loma Linda University (LLU) is a private, Christian, coeducational, health sciences university located in Southern California 60 miles east of Los Angeles close to San Bernardino and near beaches, mountains, and the desert. , Loma Linda, California Loma Linda is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 18,681 at the 2000 census. Geography Loma Linda is located at (34.048364, -117.250648)GR1. . |
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