Right before an important presentation.
While you’re waiting for your turn at an interview.
The moment you’re about to speak in front of people,
“My mouth is so dry I can barely talk…”
Have you ever had that experience?
We tend to shrug it off as “just nerves,” but at that moment, real changes are actually taking place inside your body.
The key players are the autonomic nervous system and saliva.
Why would the “nervousness” you feel in your mind dry out your mouth?
What Is Saliva For, Anyway?
When you think of saliva, you may picture it simply as “the moisture that keeps your mouth wet.”
In fact, it plays many different roles.
Saliva is secreted mainly by the salivary glands and helps to
keep the mouth moist
make food easier to swallow
aid digestion
help us taste flavors
keep the mouth clean
along with other functions.
We rarely notice it, but we benefit from saliva all the time.
Try imagining your mouth completely dry: speaking, eating and swallowing would all feel difficult.
That’s why even a slight change in your saliva
“my mouth feels dry,”
“it feels sticky,”
“it’s hard to talk.”
is something you can notice very keenly.
The Autonomic Nervous System Controls Your Saliva
The autonomic nervous system is closely involved in the secretion of saliva.
Broadly speaking, the autonomic nervous system has two parts:
the sympathetic nervous system
the parasympathetic nervous system
These are the two.
They are often described as “sympathetic = activity” and “parasympathetic = rest,” but in the real body things are a little more complex.
In the salivary glands, too, both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves help regulate secretion.
Stimulation of the parasympathetic nerves in particular produces an abundant flow of relatively thin, watery saliva.
Under the influence of the sympathetic nerves, on the other hand, the glands secrete a more viscous saliva that contains proteins and other substances.
In other words,
“saliva stops completely when the sympathetic nervous system kicks in”
is not how it works; the mechanism isn’t that simple.
What matters is that when nervousness shifts the state of your autonomic nervous system, the amount and quality of your saliva can change as well.
Why Does Your Mouth Go Dry When You’re Nervous?
So what happens when you get nervous before a presentation or an interview?
When the brain recognizes,
“This is a stressful situation,”
the body reacts to deal with it.
Your heart rate speeds up.
Your hands get sweaty.
Your muscles tense.
Your breathing changes.
And, as one of these responses, the secretion and quality of your saliva change too.
Many studies have looked at psychological stress and saliva, and acute stress has been reported to change both the flow and the composition of saliva.
As a result, you may experience sensations such as
a parched mouth
sticky saliva
a tongue that’s hard to move
difficulty swallowing
difficulty getting your voice out
and so on.
In other words, the feeling that “my mouth went dry because I was nervous” is not just in your head.
Your body is genuinely reacting to the tension your brain is sensing.
How to Deal with a Nervous Dry Mouth
If your mouth goes dry at an important moment, the simplest first step is to take a small sip of water.
There’s no need to gulp down a lot at once; just enough to moisten your mouth is fine.
Another thing to pay attention to is the tension in your body.
When you’re nervous,
your shoulders may be raised.
You may be clenching your teeth.
Your breathing may be shallow.
You may be tensing the area between your eyebrows.
You may be holding tension in places you don’t even notice.
At times like these,
lower your shoulders
breathe out slowly and a little longer
relax your jaw and tongue
Try to keep these in mind.
However, if your mouth stays dry in daily life and not only when you’re nervous, other causes need to be considered.
Dry mouth can have many causes, such as medication side effects, mouth breathing, dehydration or problems with the salivary glands.
If the dryness is severe, lasts a long time, or interferes with eating or talking, it is important to consult a doctor or dentist.
Nervousness Doesn’t Happen Only “in Your Head”
In our previous blog post, we introduced the “gut-brain axis” to explain why nervousness makes you want to go to the bathroom.
This “dry mouth” phenomenon is likewise an example of the tension you feel in your mind showing up in your body.
When you’re nervous,
your heart rate speeds up.
Your hands get sweaty.
Your stomach hurts.
Your mouth goes dry.
Your neck and shoulders tense up.
In these ways, the body shows many different reactions.
That’s why, during busy stretches of life, it’s important to pay attention not only to your mind but also to the tension in your body.
At La HEAD, in a calm, fully private room, we care for not only your head but also your neck, shoulders and arms as one connected whole.
Step away from work and your smartphone, close your eyes, and stop thinking for a while.
Then slowly release the tension your body has been holding without your realizing it.
Feeling nervous is itself a natural response we are all equipped with.
That’s exactly why we hope you’ll make time to let go, just as consciously as you make time to work hard.
We look forward to welcoming you.