Sore throats often appear as soon as you wake up. Hardly a relaxing start to the day. But even if you wake up in the morning with a sore throat and have difficulty swallowing, it may not be directly related to a viral infection. In particular, if you wake up regularly, or even every morning, with a sore throat, it could be an indication of other causes. It may just be a dry throat, or your throat might feel a bit scratchy. If it doesn’t get any better after drinking plenty of water, maybe you need to ask yourself:
Why do I Have a Sore Throat in the Morning?
One of the most common causes of your throat feeling irritated when you wake up is
Sleeping with your mouth open1
It is better to breathe through your nose so that your mouth and throat do not dry out. When the nasal passages are blocked, we breathe through our mouth, which can make the throat dry and irritated.
Reflux or heartburn
For people who suffer from reflux or heartburn, symptoms may become worse when they lie down, as this position makes it easier for gastric acid to rise into the oesophagus2. People with these conditions complain more often of having a sore throat when they wake up. If you suffer from these conditions, it is therefore important to make sure that you eat the right food. So, for example, before you go to bed, you should avoid fatty and very spicy foods and reduce your alcohol consumption. Stress and being overweight are also factors that cause reflux disease to get worse.
A cold
A cold or flu can cause you to have a sore throat in the morning. For example, clearing your throat and coughing in the night or sleeping with your mouth open when your nose is blocked. This is often accompanied by symptoms such as a headache, cough, tiredness or runny nose3. In this case, it is particularly important to rest and get plenty of sleep. Because not only does sleep help to improve your mood, it also benefits your immune system. You also need to drink plenty of fluids.
Draughts and low humidity
A draught and low humidity in your bedroom can cause irritations and a dry throat, which can result in a sore throat in the morning. To avoid a sore throat when you wake up, we would recommend drinking plenty of water throughout the day and before you go to bed. An air humidifier may help to improve the atmosphere in your room. Ideally, humidity should be between 40 and 60%. If you have a window open, you also need to ensure that this is not creating a cold draught in your room.
Snoring
Snoring can dry out the mucous membrane, resulting in a dry throat. The main cause of snoring is the relaxation of the muscular system in the throat. People who breathe through their mouth when sleeping are the ones who particularly suffer from this.
Other causes4
In addition to the above causes, other risk factors can contribute to your waking up with a sore throat. These include:
- Smoking
- Allergies (house dust)
- Environmental influences (e.g. particulate matter or industrial emissions)
How to Avoid Waking Up with a Sore Throat
- Wear warm clothing when it’s cold indoors.
- Avoid fans and draughts by keeping your windows firmly closed in cold weather.
- Avoid frequent use of air conditioning in the summer.
- If the air humidity in your home is too low, sleep with an air humidifier.
- Use nasal rinses to clean your nasal passages and mucous membranes.
- Put a teaspoon of salt in a glass of hot water and gargle with it before you go to bed to moisten your pharyngeal mucous membrane.
- Sleep on your side, rather than on your back. This will help you to breathe through your nose, rather than your mouth.
How to ease a sore throat on waking up
- Have a hot shower in the morning; the steam will provide moisture for your throat.
- Drink ginger or chamomile tea
- Gargle with salt water
- Inhale steam
Sore Throat Medication and Prevention
Strepsils has a wide range of products to help relieve and treat the symptoms of a sore throat. From the first signs of sore throat, Strepsils provides antiseptic action to fight viruses and bacteria and it provides fast-acting relief to prevent sore throat pain from getting worse.
If your throat is very painful and inflamed Strepsils Max Pro variant can help relieve the pain and the inflammation. Strepsils Max Pro lozenges are anti-inflammatory, offer pain relief and reduce swelling. Strepsils Max Pro sore throat relief can reduce pain and inflammation for up to 6 hours.
When to see a doctor?
Although most sore throats get better by drinking plenty of fluids, rest and treating them with throat sprays and lozenges, in some cases, you may need to see a doctor.
Look for the following symptoms5:
- High temperature
- Dehydration
- Worsening symptoms
- Sore throat lasting longer than 3 days, despite taking steps to ease it.
- Breathing difficulty
- Difficulty swallowing
- Coughing with mucus
- Pus in the throat
- Difficulty opening your mouth
- Sore throat/Earache
- Pain in the forehead or jaw area
If your symptoms still do not improve after treating your sore throat as instructed by the doctor, you should go back to the doctor for further examination.
Preventing sore throats6
There are a couple of things to remember to minimise the risk of sore throats.
- Eat a balanced diet - plenty of fruit and vegetables
- Get a good night’s sleep - eight hours per day is usually enough for most people.
- Exercise - outdoors is best
- Try to avoid stress - even if daily life is often stressful, you can try to develop ways of relaxing.
- Don’t smoke - actively or passively
- Strengthen your immune system - it’s easy to do this with home remedies, like fruit smoothies, to boost your defences
- Drink plenty of fluids to keep your pharynx lubricated
- Ensure there is a good indoor climate - avoid draughts and ensure there is sufficient humidity