Drooling while sleeping can be an unpleasant or even embarrassing experience. Drooling is the experience of excess saliva that leaks from your mouth unconsciously. Medically, drooling is known as sialorrhea or hypersalivation.
Drooling while sleeping can be difficult for a lot of reasons – whether you sleep next to a partner, or you find yourself in the position of having to change your sheets quite often, it’s helpful to know why you might be drooling while sleeping, and what you can do to help yourself to stop.
Whether it’s finding a memory foam pillow that’s going to help you get this done, or simply trying to take medication that’s going to bring this down, here’s everything you need to know about how to stop drooling while sleeping through the night:
Causes Of Drooling While Sleeping
Before getting into the actual solutions involved in ensuring you’re not drooling while you sleep, it’s important first to have a review and think about what might be causing this habit.
Here are some of the most common causes of drooling in your sleep –
– In one study from 2015, sleep scientists suggested excessive drooling might be common in people with previous health conditions, including older traumatic brain injuries, a potential history with strokes, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders.
– A condition known as epiglottitis might also be the source of your trouble sleeping. The epiglottis is a plate of cartilage located in the back of your throat, which helps you to swallow. An infection might cause some swelling, which can potentially lead to excessive drooling.
– Another chronic disease that might be causing you harm is Bell’s Palsy, which is a condition that might lead to the rise of muscle weakness on just one side of your face. Similarly, an auto-immune disorder known as the Guillain-Barre syndrome can be equally debilitating when you’re trying to work through any issues.
How To Minimize Drooling While Sleeping
There are several different ways in which you might find it easier to reduce how much you drool while sleeping. Here are a couple of common ways you can reduce this condition:
– Changing your sleep position – If you sleep on your stomach, you might find it drooling while sleeping a lot more common. In order to prevent this from happening, one thing you can do is try sleeping on your back, which will allow gravity to prevent saliva from seeping out of your mouth. Using a memory foam pillow to prop your head up can also be useful when you’re trying to get a good night’s sleep.
– Finding the right memory foam pillow – Propping your head up on a high-quality memory foam pillow is going to help you get comfortable, and allow you to position your head properly when you’re trying to get a good night’s sleep. Memory foam pillows that are wedge shapes can be particularly useful if you’re trying to adjust your sleep position.
– Go to a physician for medication – If you find yourself struggling to stop drooling whileyou’re sleeping, you might need to seek professional help. A physician can prescribe certain medication that can improve this – glycopyrrolate and scopolamine can both help decrease the production of saliva, aiding in excessive drooling in the process.
A physician might also recommend getting botox injections to stop your salivary glands from overproducing spit. One study from 2012 found this to be an effective process for those who struggle with producing an excess amount of saliva at night.
– Attend speech therapy – Another thing your doctors might recommend is speech therapy – this is in order to help improve jaw stability, and tongue strength. This kind of therapy can also help with tongue positioning and lip closure as well, preventing unnecessary drooling.
To further help with jaw stability, using an oral appliance to help assist with swallowing further can be of great use, especially with tongue positioning and lip closure. If your drooling is particularly debilitating, you might also want to consider surgery to help further. This is not needed in most cases, however, and should really only be thought of as an option if you’re struggling to get the sleep you need each night.
– Using a CPAP machine – In some cases, drooling can be a side effect of sleep apnea. In the case of treatment for sleep apnea, you might want to use a CPAP machine to help you with getting deeper, uninterrupted sleep. It’s possible to still drool when using a CPAP machine, however, so be sure to speak to your specialist.
How To Get Your Sleep Set-Up Just Right
Memory foam pillows, firm mattresses, and adjustable bases all lend themselves well to resting better, without much risk of drooling while sleeping. One of the most valuable things you can get for your sleep set-up is memory foam pillows with adjustable amounts of firmness.
Different people have varying levels of comfort when they’re trying to sleep atop a memory foam pillow, so having one that has adjustable stuffing can really encourage your head position and prevent further drooling as you’re trying to go to sleep.
Some common features of high-quality memory foam pillows include the materials they are made of, most usually hypoallergenic and independently certified, as well as non-toxic fill you can feel good about laying your head down on.
Check-in every once in a while to make sure your bedroom remains a place of peace and comfort. In doing this, you’re going to find it a whole lot easier to recharge and adequately for a good night’s sleep.
Drooling while sleeping is nothing to be embarrassed about. Thankfully, there are plenty of solutions that can be genuinely constructive and helpful as you try to minimize this bedtime habit. Whether you’ve found the perfect set of memory foam pillows for your space, or you decide a mouth guard might help, working out how to get to bed and keep your sleep schedule consistent is key to getting rest that leaves you feeling supercharged for the day.
