Dear LPG,

I know that most readers of the LPG site have something in common with me inasmuch as we are all getting older and some of the most significant manifestations of this happen at the beginning of the day when getting up requires more effort and takes longer.  There are the achy bones and slower motor skills to contend with but does it affect your voice too?

There are also the winter months with their chills and colds which are particularly hard on how we sound.

For me, the ‘raspiness’ is bad enough when I get up and listen to myself in the privacy of my own home but, by the time I have made myself presentable, my voice has usually done the same.   My problem is that I have family in the USA and they often use their clock when they want to phone me.  Being five hours behind us timewise means that, after they have had their supper and are in the family phoning mood, my phone often rings at what for me is the early hours of the morning when my voice is at its worst.

I understand that I am one of many people that wake up with a different voice first thing in the morning and this is the case for many people, young and old, so I got googling to find out why with some interesting results.  Though they are unlikely to wake your voice up any quicker in the mornings I hope that sharing what I found will help you to understand why it happens.

SY Lewisham

SY asked us to share some advice about how to improve your’ first thing in the morning’ voice

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Also offers us a little of the scientific and visual reasons as to why this happens 

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