Health for Voice Teachers

Weekly Teaching Tip – April 22, 2013
by Tricia Grey

My tip has to do with health for voice teachers. Recently I have become aware of some new studies about the dangers of sitting all day, (like most of us do) and the health risks associated with this. According to the Archives of Internal Medicine, sitting for long periods increases your risk of an early death from heart disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia and cancer. And the thing that surprised me was that is the case even for people who work out vigorously an hour a day- the benefits of the workout are not enough to counteract the inactivity of the rest of the day. Geez, that really sucks! Personally, I may work out in the morning, but, once I am in the studio, I am there for the duration! And that can be 10 hours or more. What the researchers are suggesting is that you find a way to be active somehow (involving standing, walking and generally moving) at least once every hour, AND take at least two 10 minute walks each day in addition to your workout regime, preferably outdoors for the vitamin D. So, I stand up and play scales sometimes (reminds me of being in rock bands in the early days where I played keyboards standing up), and I have purchased a pedometer that counts my steps all day. They say you should get 10,000 steps a day to be healthy, and finding little 5-minute intervals in the day to move more does make the numbers add up. This has paid off in more alertness and energy throughout the teaching day!