Do Sleep Quality and Stress Affect Voice Function?

June 7, 2021

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Sleep quality, Stress, and Voice Function… what is the relationship?!

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Do SLEEP QUALITY and STRESS affect VOICE FUNCTION? YES would be a great guess in my opinion. We know the negative effects that poor sleep quality and stress can have on the mind, the spirit, one’s general attitude and mindset, and the body as a whole—it is easy to suspect these effects can also impact the VOICE.

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Thanks to a 2019 study by Carrillo-Gonzalez, Camargo-Mendoza, and Cantor-Cutiva that looked at the relationship between sleep quality, stress, and voice functioning among college professors, we have evidence. As we know, teachers (including professors, instructors, fitpros, etc.) are OCCUPATIONAL VOICE USERS. The VOICE is the instrument for delivering a very important message out to others, and this voice is used daily in “job”-related tasks.

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“SLEEPING is the most critical stage in the psychological and somatic recovery process, and sleep deficiency can lead to changes in the breath pattern that might contribute to the appearance and development of voice disorders”…andddd AIR is the foundation for VOICE! Inadequate sleep can also compromise a person’s communicative competence, which is essential for success in the workplace (especially related to a teaching profession). Work-related stress is a known risk factor for health and emotional/psychological health issues (including voice and sleep disorders). Recovery from stress and prevention of stress are both fundamental in order to preserve health, wellbeing, and work performance, and help our bodies maintain homeostasis.

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The study results suggest that teachers who reported stress at work were more likely to also report voice disorders AND teachers who reported sleeping more than six hours per day were less likely to report a voice disorder.  Therefore, the conclusions related to an established relationship between a higher occurrence of voice disorders among teachers with high work-related stress and less than six hours of sleep per day.

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“A good night’s sleep is one of a healthy body’s secret weapons. Exhaustion amplifies negative stress and shortens your life; lack of sleep reduces your gift to solve problems and leaves you with a chronic concentration deficiency. Sleep allows your brain (AND VOCAL FOLDS) to perform vital maintenance and gives your immune system time to mount energetic attacks against intruders you are not even aware of. Take note of the generally accepted advice that we need between seven and nine hours of sleep a night” (The Happy Mind, 2017).

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As any occupational voice user, it should be of utmost importance to prioritize your VOICE daily, and in this case—doing so by prioritizing your SLEEP and stress management in order to reduce your chances of a voice disorder AND excel at your job.

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