Slight sore throat upon awakening in dry air. Normal or sleep apnea?

Posted by robertwills @robertwills, Jan 28 7:19pm

I have been been waking up and my throat has been slightly sore. The air here is very dry, like a dew point at 15F (which is very dry). The sore throat doesn't bother me much, I don't need a dehumidifier, but could the dry throat be a sign of sleep apnea or could it normal at this kind of dew point?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Sleep Health Support Group.

SusanEllen66 | @SusanEllen66 | Jan 28 11:03pm

@robertwills I also live in a very dry climate. Our humidity is less than 10% most days.
A dry throat with a little irritation means that I have been snoring. I keep a glass of water next to my bed. If I happen to wake during the night, I take a drink.

gloaming | @gloaming | Jan 29 12:46am

It might be dry air, or it could be dry air + snoring, or it could be dry air + sleeping supine with mouth open but not snoring.

Most modern smart phones, if you have one, will have access to a health app, and it might include, among other things, a snore detector. My Samsung Galaxy phones, S9 until early 2023, and now an S23, had the Samsung Health app that allows sleep quality rating and breakdown of stages, SO2 during the night, ECG every ten minutes, and heart rate monitoring. It can also take blood pressure readings on demand, and soon will be able to detect blood glucose levels. It also has a way to listen for snoring, but you have to enable that function in SHealth and leave the phone nearby while you sleep.

There are third party health apps that you can find in Google Play or in the Apple App Store that will detect sleep processes.

robertwp | @robertwp | Jan 29 8:42am

I had undiagnosed sleep apnea for years,never caised a dry or sore throat up here in Michigan.

drwass2 | @drwass2 | Jan 29 1:20pm

I use cpap with humidifier and heated hose and still get a very dry throat at night, have to get saliv a and swallow a lot to get it back. happens a few times all night.
especially if I mouth breath with mask which happens, so a nasal only mask doesn't work for me.