healthmedicinet

You know how sometimes you wake up, roll out of bed, and sound totally different when you open your mouth? Your voice is suddenly deeper and raspier than usual, and maybe it even sounds better to you than it did when you tucked yourself in the night before. What’s behind this phenomenon?

“There are lots of different reasons your voice might sound different in the morning,” says Michael Pitman, M.D., director of laryngology at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. When you wake up, your whole body is stiff because it hasn’t moved for hours. That extends to your vocal folds, too. Remember how when you were younger, you’d put a blade of grass between your thumbs and blow on it to make a noise? Your vocal folds work the same way: They vibrate when your lungs push air through them, resulting in the sound you hear when you speak.

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“When you wake up, your vocal folds need to warm up just like the rest of you,” says Pitman. “Before a runner goes out, they stretch and run slowly to get the blood flowing. It’s the same with your voice; professional voice users will even do specific exercises to warm up so the folds vibrate better and they get rid of that morning voice.” This effect can be exacerbated if you overused your voice the night before, perhaps from being at a loud concert or drinking a lot of alcohol, which is dehydrating.

Another culprit could be how you sleep at night. “In winter, when radiators are on and the air is dry, people who breathe through their mouths instead of their noses can become hoarse,” says Pitman. “The nose humidifies air in a way the mouth doesn’t.”

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In less benign reasons, your different morning voice could also come down to acid reflux. “Some people experience reflux during the day, while others reflux at night, especially when they’re lying down,” says Pitman. “There’s acid in there, especially protein that comes up from the stomach that digests your food and can almost digest your tissue, which can lead to inflamed vocal folds.” Much like guitar strings, the thicker the folds, the lower the pitch of the resulting sound. 

Even if you love the sound of your morning voice, pay attention if it sticks around. “A lot of the deep, raspy voices we love actually are actually the product of unhealthy vocal folds, which can be due to smoking or other causes that might lead to health problems,” says Pitman. Even if you’ve never touched a cigarette, if your deep, raspy voice has way more longevity than your bedhead, it’s time to head to the doctor. “If you notice it sticks around for more than two to three weeks and that isn’t normal for you, you should get checked out, preferably by a laryngologist, an ear, nose, and throat doctor who specializes in voice issues,” says Pitman. He or she can make sure your different-sounding morning voice isn’t the result of anything more than a good night’s rest.

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