Vocal Health: How to prevent long term damage

I am fortunate to have never had any serious vocal issues.  

I exercise regularly, don't smoke or drink, and am very jealous about a minimum of 8 hours of sleep every night.  I truly believe this moderate life has helped me maintain my strength even as I am now in my 57th year of life.

Keeping my voice healthy has had some challenges as I have had many allergies since birth.  I was fortunate to grow out of some, but from time to time something will pop up and my voice gets irritated.   

Or worse, I might fall ill and the illness settles in my throat. 

The best piece of advice I can give is this, and it is a paraphrase of the legendary tenor Carlo Bergonzi:  "If you begin to vocalize and your voice doesn't feel good, stop." 

In other words:

1.  don't push your voice.   You can do a lot of learning by listening to music, softly pronouncing the words, sit at a piano and play through your notes.  The worst thing we can do is to think we MUST sing out to get in a good practice.  So if you are not feeling good, approach the learning process in a different way. 

2.  Sleep.  A good night's sleep works wonders.   When I sing a large role I also enjoy a short nap in the afternoon of a performance.  I try to have a normal lifestyle even of the day of a performance.  I will get up, run errands or have a light workout, eat a light lunch, then lay down for 45 minutes to an hour.  I may only sleep 20 minutes, but I wake up refreshed and always feel my voice has found an extra level of strength and clarity.   Always make sure you finish the nap 3-4 hours before your performance so that you can get your body awakened and ready to go. 

3.  Try to be consistent with your lifestyle so that you can be consistent in preparing for rehearsals in performances:  have a plan. 

4.  Don't TALK!!! I think the worst thing a singer can do is talk too much within 36 hours of a performance.  Talking really grates on your vocal folds. 

5.  Never scream.  Never.  

6.  Try to be very moderate in drinking, and if you smoke, please severely limit it.  

Do these things and you will avoid most of the problems that can stop you from having a quality performance.