As a performer, you face many health risks due to the nature of your work. Countless rehearsals can overwork your body, resulting in muscle pain or sickness. Frequent singing can strain your voice, leading to vocal damage. Meanwhile, The Conversation shares that performers—especially circus or acrobatic entertainers—frequently suffer injuries like sprains, strains, and sore backs and shoulders. While these aren’t life-threatening, they’re often long-term and hinder their career and daily activities.
Fortunately, most of these are avoidable with proper health and care practices. Here are six applaudable health tips you can try.
Eat healthily
As a performer, eating fast food or unhealthy snacks is tempting because they’re ready-made, allowing you to better use your time to perfect your routine. Yet however convenient snacks are, it’s still important to eat nutritious meals. Performing is physically draining, so you need sufficient nutrients to energise your body. Otherwise, you’ll feel fatigued and unable to give your best. Eat more balanced meals consisting of fruits, vegetables, protein, and whole carbs. If you’re in a time crunch, prepare smoothies for a quick, healthy snack. The recipe book “Supercharge Your Gut” by Lee Holmes recommends a mocha and banana smoothie bowl packed with nutrients. All you have to do is blend the ingredients together—then consume the finished product while doing your makeup or taking five.
Take supplements
Though it’s important for performers to follow a healthy diet, you may not be able to do so consistently with a busy schedule. If so, consider taking supplements regularly. Reputable tablets and drinks can provide you with the vitamins and minerals you may not get enough of in your meals, including vitamin D, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids. As such, you can use them to better ensure you’re in the best shape possible for your performances.
The Blackmores vitamin brand has a range of tablets available according to your needs. They offer calcium, omega daily, and ginkgo, amongst many other types. You can take one tablet a day to supplement your meals. You can also opt for Orgain’s nutritional shake, which provides plant-based protein and 22 vitamins and minerals. It’s made with whole food ingredients like greens, blueberries, and whole grains to support your diet.
Quit smoking
Smoking can harm performers in a few ways. It can damage your vocal cords, altering your voice. Smoking also ruptures air sacs in the lungs, leading to breathlessness and low endurance. If you want to perform without worries, quitting smoking is the way to go. To ease the process, you can use smokeless nicotine products—like pouches and patches—to gradually lower your nicotine intake without further exposing yourself to the harmful effects of cigarette smoke.
Nicotine pouches are kept in the mouth for nicotine absorption. The tobacco-free Rogue nicotine pouches listed at Prilla contain pure nicotine—extracted via advanced steam extraction technology—and come in different flavourings, from peppermint to mango. This allows you to tailor your smoking cessation method to your exact tastes. Those who don’t want an oral product can use a nicotine patch, which is transdermal. The Amcal nicotine patches are ideal if you’re used to smoking 20 or more cigarettes daily, as they contain 21mg of nicotine. You can wear them for up to 24 hours for gradual nicotine delivery, which can help if you lack time to change patches.
Stop drinking alcohol
Drinking alcohol results in dehydration. St. Olaf College’s post “Drug and Alcohol Use” notes how dehydration makes your voice less resilient to recovering from frequent use, affecting your singing abilities. Dehydration also causes the loss of strength and stamina, stopping you from attending practice or performing. Avoiding alcohol during your performance run will keep your voice and stamina in check for future performances. An article on Medical News Today outlined how a hangover can last 24 hours, which means that any heavy drinking the night before a performance could have a detrimental impact.
Get enough sleep
If anyone needs sufficient sleep, it’s performers. Healthline’s 2020 article “What Is the Purpose of Sleep?” reports that the body repairs cells and restores energy during this process—a must for the physically-draining job of a performer. At the same time, getting enough sleep helps your brain store new information—like new lyrics, moves, or blocking you learnt in a day—more easily.
As such, it’s vital that you get your beauty sleep. 7NEWS reveals that seven hours of sleep is the ideal amount to aim for. Too much or too little will lead to poor cognitive performance, which may make it hard for you to practice your routines to perfection. If you have a hard time falling asleep at night, try not to bring your gadgets to bed. They can distract you and make you stay up longer than needed. You can also set alarms to help you wake up after seven hours and avoid oversleeping. Getting enough sleep will repair your body and mind, preparing you for another day of performances.
Staying healthy is essential if you want to give your best as a performer. Incorporate these applaudable health practices into your daily routine so you’re always in the best shape possible. After all, the show must go on!
