Filipa Lã, soprano and researcher at the Department of Communication and Art at the University of Aveiro – Portugal, discovered that the phases of the menstrual cycle can affect negatively the performance of opera singers and states that hormonal variations affect, in addition to the tissues of the uterus walls, the mucosa of the vocal cords, whose tissues are similar.
Thus, in the premenstrual and menstrual phases, there is fluid retention in these regions, noticeable more clearly in these women, since they directly interfere with the voice and that is why This is why some countries in Europe include in the contract of opera singers that they have the right to rest for three days, if the voice is affected because of these changes.
To get around this possible problem - which can even cause edema - and not demand too much of the voice at this stage, plenty of water, use of vitamin B12 and avoid menstruation by using pills are alternatives that Filipa list.
Currently, the researcher is studying the variations in speech mechanisms that occur during menopause, mainly due to hormonal treatment. According to this, hoarseness, decreased registration and vocal flexibility and stability and problems with vocal emission, voice control and maintenance of the high register are some of the symptoms at this stage.
Thus, knowing how women feel at this time of change, both physiologically and emotionally, investigating the vocal and psychological symptoms they face and how they reflect in the professional sphere is the initial objective. from the project.
As most drugs for this purpose do not have in their package inserts any reference to contraindications with regard to the voice, Filipa investigates the effects of this therapy, checking the vocal effects occurring among women in a control group (using placebos), a group using drugs with antiandrogenic properties and another group with properties antiminerocorticoids.
By Mariana Araguaia
Graduated in Biology
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biologia/variacoes-no-ciclo-menstrual.htm
