Let’s face it: waking up with a puddle of drool on your pillow isn’t exactly the sexiest way to start the day. You might think, “Great. I drooled again. Am I a baby or a bulldog?” But here’s the surprising truth: drooling while you sleep might actually be a sign that your brain is functioning really well.
Yep. That little trail of nighttime slobber could be your brain giving itself a pat on the back.
1. Drooling = Deep Sleep Champion
First things first: why do we drool in our sleep?
Drooling typically happens during the deepest stage of sleep — specifically, non-REM Stage 3 sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep. This is when your body and brain are in serious rest-and-repair mode. Muscles relax, your heart rate slows down, and your brain clears out waste products through the glymphatic system (more on that later!).
When you’re in this deep sleep, your swallow reflex also relaxes. Saliva pools in the mouth and, well, gravity does the rest. Hello, drool.
So if you’re waking up with a damp pillow, it could actually mean you reached deep, high-quality sleep — something millions of people struggle to get.
In fact, according to the CDC, about 35% of adults in the U.S. don’t get enough sleep, and many experience shallow, fragmented rest. So if you’re snoozing hard enough to drool, congratulations — you’re ahead of the game.
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