In other threads I have seen posters opine that drinks don't help with singing because the windpipe and larynx don't see the liquid.

Now. Whilst coughing and spluttering at 5:30am I gave up trying to get back to sleep. So I made my honey, lemon and hot water and came back to bed. The urge to cough vanished for several hours.

I did sleep and in those waking moments a thought popped into my head. How did that happen?

Was it pure placebo/psychosomatic? Were the fumes from the citric acid aided by the hot water, passing into my broncils and bronciolae?

AND

When I sing, doesn't the alcohol have fumes, and wouldn't that have interacted with the mucus in the air passages? Condensing on the vocal cords? (improving the chords!)

A physiological mechanism is identified, but how effective, and effective how?

PS can I discount the banana this morning?