Prevent salivation during sleep

Does this sound familiar? You wake up in the morning and you find a tiny spot of drool on your pillow. As embarrassing this might be, drooling while sleeping is very common. But not for everyone. This leads to the conclusion that certain circumstances are responsible for salivation.

During sleep, the facial musculature, the tongue and the jaw muscles relax. Occasionally, the mouth opens and this easily leads to sobering. But, also the sleeping position is influencing this small mishap. Once the head is tilting towards the neck the mouth inevitably opens. Especially stomach sleepers find a drooling spot on their pillow. Because, in this position, the saliva can easily drip out of the mouth. When the nose is stuffy you automatically have to breathe via the mouth. This also might lead to an unwanted salivation.

This suggests that when you occasionally drool you simply were totally relaxed and exhausted. Nonetheless, drooling in the night is not altogether common. In many sleeping positions, the lips automatically close the mouth even when the jaw is relaxed. When you are regularly sleeping with your mouth open an impairment of the airways or something similar might be the cause. Problems with nasal breathing for example.

Nasal breathing might be complicated by a narrow or bent nasal septum and cause mouth breathing. Especially during sleeping, the body chooses the easiest way of breathing. Other possibilities: polyps might interfere with nasal breathing, a cold might favor mouth breathing. In case salivation occurs regularly, you should think about consulting an ENT-specialist. The following hints might be helpful on occasional appearances:

To actively influence breathing during sleep, a comfortable nasal breathing should be possible. Nasal breathing can be trained with some kind of autogenous training. Here, before falling asleep people concerned continually imagine to close their mouth and to breathe via their nose.

Furthermore, the head should rest in a straight or slightly upright position. Here, too, the proper pillow offers support.

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