Having a parched mouth is rarely fun, but is there a worse time to go sandpaper-tongued than whenever you’re boning? On top of feeling unpleasant, dry mouth can lead to thick, sticky saliva, bad breath, and difficulty swallowing—none of that are exactly ideal within the bedroom, especially where kissing and oral sex are concerned. (If you’ve ever tried to go down on someone when there’s not a drop of spit in your mouth, you are feeling me on this.)
If your teeth, tongue, and lips transform into the Sahara each time you’re on a visit to Pound Town, you would possibly think it’s just the value of a gasping good time. Luckily, you’re not doomed to endure a dry mouth during sex ceaselessly. Here’s how to make things wetter.
Why your mouth might feel especially dry during sex
Before tackling the issue, it helps to know why this is occurring in the primary place. Dry mouth, or xerostomia, happens whenever you don’t produce enough spit to keep your mouth wet. As SELF previously reported, one of the common culprits is dehydration. Simply put, you’ll be able to’t produce enough saliva should you don’t have fluid to make it with.
Chugging water like your name is Mrs. Poseidon doesn’t mechanically prevent within the moment whenever you’re having sex. For one, your body uses up a whole lot of fluid whenever you’re mid-hookup, like by sweating to cool you down and getting you properly lubricated. So there’s a probability you wish to drink more water than you think that, each beforehand and within the moment, to get through a hot encounter. As SELF previously reported, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences recommends taking in 2.7 liters (or 11 cups) to 3.7 liters (close to 16 cups), by way of your each day hydration.
Most of us turn into heavy breathers during sex, and after we’re panting away we’re not exactly helping our mouths stay moist. “The nose is the only way to humidify the air we breathe in, so mouth-breathing is drying to the mouth and throat,” Inna Husain, MD, an otolaryngologist at Community Healthcare System in Munster, Indiana, tells SELF. Not to mention, Dr. Husain says there’s actually erectile tissue in your nose that may turn into engorged with blood. So when arousal causes your body to pump up the flow to those tissues, you would possibly get congested. This sex-specific stuffy nose (and sometimes sneezing) is generally known as “honeymoon rhinitis,” and it may cause you to breathe more through your mouth.
Next up, there are your hormones. There’s loads happening whenever you’re within the throes of passion. You might feel a rush of pleasure (say, from a brand new partner, kink, or location)—or you would possibly feel anxious or stressed, like whenever you’re stuck in your head, struggling to perform, or worrying about your roommate overhearing you. Your body tends to interpret these feelings as stress, and it responds with a rush of hormones like adrenaline and norepinephrine. This can leave your mouth high and dry. The reason? “Blood is shunted toward systems that will help you flee from danger and away from parts of your body that help you rest and digest,” Gail Saltz, MD, an associate attending professor of psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell, tells SELF. That includes our digestive system, home of our salivary glands. In other words, your nervous system turns the knob down in your spit production because it attends to other parts of your body, like your heart and lungs.
