How to Get Rid of Cotton Mouth

"How to get rid of cotton mouth?"

When you first start smoking weed, you probably have wondered that very question at least once. Cotton mouth is that dried-out, painful side effect of pot smoking no one likes. More often than not, we wake up with it.

When we do wake up with it, it's awful. Getting up from bed, groggy, with a dried out mouth, unable to breathe without your desert-tongue hurting – nothing is worth that.

It's a natural side-effect of smoking cannabis. The release of the chemical in your mouth slows the parts of your mouth that generates saliva.

Wouldn't be easy if you could just get rid of cotton mouth? No consequences for your smoking cannabis. Just sheer joy? There are a few ways that can help you get rid of cotton mouth, allowing you to move past your night of smoking weed.

Breathe Through Your Nose

The first thing you should do to get rid of cotton mouth is to stop breathing through your mouth. Breathing through your mouth is just going to make the cotton mouth feel worse and worse. Breathing through your mouth dries out your throat and tongue. A bad idea.

Instead, breathe through your nose. It keeps your mouth from drying out, and fills you with enough air to keep living.

Unless, of course, you have a stuffy nose. Then... I dunno what to tell you. That just really sucks.

Important note, though. Cannabis doesn't just cause cotton mouth. Your nasal passages will act up, too. I advise moistening your nose with saline. If you don't, well, you're gonna have a bad time.

Avoid Caffeine and Teas

I'm a coffee junkie. I like nothing more than to start the morning with a cup of black, rich coffee. However, if you're suffering from a case of cotton mouth, coffee, tea, and soda would be an ill-advised remedy.

If you want to get rid of cotton mouth, don't drink anything caffeinated. Caffeine naturally dries out the mouth. That's like dehydrating a desert. You're just asking for a bad time.

Avoid Alcohol

Like caffeine, alcohol is a great way to worsen your case of cotton mouth. You ever wake up with a dry mouth following a night of drinking? Well, that's what you're going to have if you drink alcohol.

Alcohol, like caffeine, dries out the mouth. It stops saliva production, which, in turn, causes cotton mouth.

But now, after talking about what not to do, how about what you should do.

Sour Candy

Have a sweet tooth for sour candy? That's good, because one way to get rid of cotton mouth is to just suck on a few sour candies for a little while. The sour flavors trigger glands in the mouth to produce saliva. After all, you have to suck those things down, so the body, instinctively, helps prep you up.

If you have cotton mouth and your mouth is super dried out, this is an easy way to moisten things up between your mandibles.

Suck on a Lemon

Ah, an old favorite. the sourness of a lemon is an ideal way to trigger those saliva glands in your mouth. They will act on overdrive once the lemon touches your tongue.

And, of course, the lemon juice will do its duty to moisten up the inside of your mouth. Really, anything sour will help get rid of cotton mouth.

Drink Water Through a Straw

A slow intake of water is an incredibly efficient way to get rid of cotton mouth – for obvious reasons. If your mouth is dry, a good ol' gulp of water may seem tempting.

However, drink too fast, and you won't get a chance for all that water to spread. It'll just go down fast, and not really moisten anything up. Your tongue will stay dry, and you'll still have the unfortunate sensation of cotton mouth. Do yourself a favor: go slow.

And the straw? Sucking on a straw, again, triggers saliva.

Chew Gum

Chewing gum is a perfect way to release saliva in the mouth. This is because the mind is tricked into thinking it's digesting food. In actuality, it's just gum that shouldn't be swallowed and will not break down anytime soon.

The idea is this: want to generate saliva to end your cotton mouth? Chew gum. For a while.

Breathe in Steam

Nothing is better to moisten up the nasal passages and mouth than inhaling a little bit of steam. Simply boil some water, and take it all in.

Now, we're not saying snort water. No. That sounds like an unpleasant experience. But, in order to get rid of cotton mouth, you do need to let some water vapor moisten the inside of your mouth. It's an easy way to gently reintroduce your body to moisture once more.