We’ve all been there. Your alarm goes off, you roll over, and your mouth feels so dry that you can’t focus on anything else. You reach for the glass of water on your bedside table and gulp it down, desperate for relief.
What if we told you that waking up with a dry mouth doesn’t have to be the norm? Turns out, there are a few easy steps you can take to ensure that you don’t have a dry mouth and stuffy nose in the morning.
Before we dive in, let’s first discuss some of the common symptoms you may deal with regularly as a result of dry mouth.
Dry mouth obviously consists of a dry tongue and throat, but you may also experience symptoms such as:
If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, you’re more than likely suffering from a dry mouth. But what causes it?
One of the most common culprits is chronic dehydration.
Our bodies are mostly made up of water. The brain and heart are at least 73 percent water, while the lungs contain 83 percent water.
The skin, our largest organ, contains 64 percent water, while our muscles and kidneys are 79 percent water.
Even our bones contain water, although at a lower percentage of 31 percent. For this reason, it’s extremely important to stay on top of your water intake.
Water regulates our internal body temperature, helps to regulate circulation, flushes toxins, acts as a lubricant for our joints, and more. So how much water should you drink daily to ensure proper hydration?
Research shows that most adults need around eight glasses of water per day. However, the amount needed varies from person to person, so it may be best to drink half of your body weight in ounces per day.
For example, a person weighing 150 lbs should drink at least 75 ounces of water daily. That said, certain medications may worsen dehydration, so you may need even more water than the average person if you take certain medications regularly that have “dry mouth” listed as a side effect.
Once you develop this habit and hydrate properly each day, dry mouth symptoms may improve.
If your water intake is on par and you’re still waking up with a dry mouth in the morning, a sleep disorder may be to blame.
An estimated 45 percent of adults snore. The main cause? Mouth breathing at night.
Mouth breathing may be a symptom of a pre-existing sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea, so it’s important to get a sleep test to rule this out.
Nevertheless, the quickest way to dry out the mouth is to breathe with it open. This evaporates our saliva, which usually acts as a protective coating for the teeth and gums.
Cavities and that dried-out, seemingly painful feeling in the mouth and throat follow. Even more alarming, mouth breathing worsens nasal congestion and a stuffy nose, which in turn, encourages mouth breathing.
That means you’ll wake up with a dry mouth in the morning until you switch over to nasal breathing. It’s a cycle that’s hard to break.
The longer you go without utilizing the nose, the harder it becomes to make the switch from mouth breathing to nasal breathing.
Nasal congestion is typically caused by swollen nasal passages, which make the airways narrow and impede your ability to breathe through the nose. Nighttime congestion may be caused by illness or by allergies to dust mites, pet dander, or other inflammatory particles.
However, breathing through the mouth may worsen these allergies even more than usual because the mouth lacks the proper air filtration we need.
Waking up with a dry mouth in the morning, as we’ve learned, is commonly caused by mouth breathing.
Mouth breathing worsens congestion, which limits the ability to breathe through the nose, which means allergy-causing mouth breathing is the only way to take in air. It’s a harmful chain reaction.
When you breathe through the mouth, airborne particles fly right into the mouth, down your throat, and into the lungs. That means germs, bacteria, pet dander, and more go right into your airway.
This can lead to a sore throat, illness, and/or increased risk of pneumonia.
When you breathe through the nose, however, the opposite happens. Nose hairs (called cilia) trap and filter out harmful bacteria that worsen allergies, illness, and encourage mouth breathing.
The nose also controls the temperature of the air we breathe by heating or cooling our breath with added moisture. As you may have guessed, the mouth lacks this humidity.
On top of that, the nose releases nitric oxide, an immune-boosting miracle molecule that wards off illness, lowers stress levels, boosts circulation, and more.
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Put simply, breathing in and out of the mouth leads to unfiltered air full of dust and germs at harsh temperatures with no added humidity. You’re making yourself sick and congested by continuing to mouth breathe.
Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “how do I make the switch from mouth breathing to nasal breathing?” Or, “how do I continue to nasal breathe into the night while I sleep?”
Thankfully, we’ve got a comfortable, affordable solution for you.
If you’re sick and tired of waking up with a dry mouth in the morning, you have to stop mouth breathing at night.
That means maintaining a proper tongue posture and lip seal as you sleep. If you’re not used to nasal breathing, this can be near impossible on your own. Mouth tape can help.
It functions in the exact same manner as its name: it physically holds the lips shut to prevent mouth breathing and promote nasal breathing.
Our strips are latex-free, gluten-free, and hypoallergenic. Better yet, they feature a gel-like adhesive that’s perfect for comfortable sleep.
Stop waking up with a dry mouth in the morning. Wake up with SomniFix instead!
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