What is the Connection Between Dry Mouth and Sleep?

Also for a sore throat try an air humidifier and nasal spray at night.

I noticed last winter that my nose had become very dry and congested. The heat kept coming on a lot, and my bedroom seemed to be the warmest one in the house. Because of this, I often had to breathe through my mouth to get enough air.

I got a humidifier, and I noticed a big improvement in my nose. The humidifier keeps moisture in the air, so my nasal passages don’t dry out. When they are moist, it is so much easier to breathe through them.

I simply fill the tank with water, plug it in, and turn it on. It has two settings, and I usually use the lowest one, because this makes the water last through the night. I haven’t had dry mouth since I started using it.

@wavy58 - Chances are, if you have noticed loud snorting and a dry mouth, he probably does have sleep apnea. This condition can be dangerous, because people can stop breathing altogether during sleep and die.

My dad has sleep apnea, and my mom made him go to a sleep center for help. He had to spend the night there with monitors attached to his body.

He simply could not fall asleep like this, though he tried. So, they could not accurately diagnose him.

There is some sort of mask that people with sleep apnea can wear for treatment, but my dad doesn’t think he would be able to sleep with it on. However, since your husband sounds like he is a deep sleeper, he could probably tolerate the mask.

I’m afraid that my husband may have sleep apnea. He has gained forty pounds in the last two years, and he has begun snoring.

He often wakes himself up during a loud snort. Then, he goes and gets a drink of water. He doesn’t even remember it the next day, but I notice.

I haven’t actually observed him not breathing during the night, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. I’m usually too sleepy to notice much, but I can tell when he leaves the bed and runs the faucet to get some water.

How do I tell if he has sleep apnea? Should he go to a doctor?

I suffer from chronic allergies, so I wind up with a dry mouth at night. At some point during the night, my nose becomes congested, and I start dreaming that I am drowning. I wake up and realize that I need to breathe through my mouth, because I absolutely cannot use my nose.

It becomes hard to swallow because of this. I wake up more frequently and have to sip water throughout the night. This makes me need to get up and urinate, which also keeps me from sleeping for long periods.

Even if I take allergy medication, it only lasts about four hours. I can usually breathe through my nose during that time, but I always wake up as soon as it wears off, unable to use my nose. When this happens, I start breathing through my mouth, and I know I won’t sleep very well.

Let me start out by saying that I have no medical knowledge of this, but I discovered something that really helps me minimize dry mouth when I have a cold. It used to be that I would wake up with a terrible sore throat, because I would be stuffy and breathing through my mouth all night long.

Well, during my last pregnancy, I was sleeping propped up on two pillows because I had bad heartburn. Sleeping in an elevated position helps make the acid flow down your throat better.

Well, I got a cold as well (lucky me). But something about sleeping on two pillows really helped! Maybe it helped the mucus drain down my throat instead of clogging me up so that I wasn't breathing through my mouth so much, but at any rate, my throat wasn't as sore. I always sleep on two pillows now when I have a cold, and it makes a lot of difference in reducing dry mouth.