maintain a healthy throat

Your throat is a finely tuned structure of tissues, nerves, glands and blood vessels and needs looking after. If you overuse some of the delicate organs and tissues of the throat the effects can be damaging. Taking care of your throat can be quite easy and usually some simple common sense is enough to protect it from long term damage.

We rarely give much thought to our throat unless it begins to hurt, feel dry or wake up one day with no sound coming out of it. When this happens, then we think about our throat all the time. Especially when we feel pain every time we swallow. Then we run around looking for something to take to help it return to normal.
You can't be part of the human race and not come in contact with all sorts of germs and people who are sick. Practicing good health habits is the best way to avoid getting sick.


Your throat is a finely tuned structure of tissues, nerves, glands and blood vessels and needs looking after. If you overuse some of the delicate organs and tissues of the throat, you end up with problems and the effects can be damaging.
Learning how to take care of your throat is easy and in most cases the benefits are well worth the effort. Here are 6 of my favorite ways for keeping your throat healthy.

Protect Your Throat from the Cold Temperatures

Get in the habit of wearing a scarf around your neck to keep the throat area warm. Do you know that the neck is one of the most overlooked sources of heat loss? Anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of our body heat can be lost from the surface of the head and neck. Changes in extreme temperature such as going from a heated car into the cold outside and vice versa should be avoided when possible.

2. Avoid Sharing Eating Utensils

Do not drink from the same glass, cup or bottle that someone else is using , as you may be at risk of cross contamination. The same is true for sharing eating utensils and even napkins.

3. Clean Your Toothbrush

One source of infection that is over looked by most people is the toothbrush . Left over night, it can be a potential source of problem for the throat and mouth. Every morning, before brushing the teeth, soak your toothbrush in a glass of hot water to which a teaspoonful of common salt has been added. This helps to disinfect the toothbrush and also helps keep it clean.

4. Gargle with salt

Gargle every night with a mixture of warm water and salt. Just a pinch of salt will do. During cold and flu season this is a habit that will help to disinfect the mouth and throat. Your grandmother knew the benefits of making this a habit. And if you catch a sore throat early enough, salt water will give you fast relief.
Salt water can also be used to clear a stuffy nose. Just "snuff" the above mixture into each nostril. You'll instantly begin breathing better through the nose.

5. Use Honey and Ginger To Protect Your Throat

One of the very best ways to protect the throat is with ginger juice and honey. After a good brushing in the morning,squeeze a little fresh ginger juice (3-4 ml) with 5 ml of honey and see for yourself what a good insurance policy this is for protecting your throat all day.
I make my own ginger juice by boiling 2 or 3 slices of real ginger ( found in the vegetable section), then cooling it a little.
I have also used turmeric. Simply take 1/2 cup of hot water and add a pinch of salt and 5 grms of turmeric powder to it. Drink this every night during cold and flu season to protect your throat.
Another tip for rellieving sore throat pain, is to gargle with warm water and cayenne pepper.

6. Vocal Warm Ups For Professionals and Teachers

Daily vocal warm ups are a must for singers, speakers, doctors, actors and the like. But not just any warm ups will do. In fact some warm ups can do more damage to the throat than not engaging in any warm ups.
Slow, gentle humming on comfortable tones are excellent warm ups. Feel for vibrations across the mask area. To keep the lips loose and relaxed, include the buzzing sound ( the way you would buzz the lips on a babys belly to make the baby giggle).