Most people have experienced this at some point in their lives. Fortunately, a dry sore throat doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting sick, because it can have some other natural causes that are relatively easy to fix.
For example, sometimes if you are outside for a while exercising or working hard and breathing through your mouth, your throat can get dried out. Of course, you probably won’t notice it at the time, but you will definitely notice it later and possibly even the next day.
Sleeping with a draft can also cause this, even if you don’t sleep with your mouth open. Breathing drafty cold air into your nose can cause it to hit the throat just right on its way down which, over the hours, can dry out your throat. You’ll notice it in the morning when you wake up and swallow and your throat is dry.
The draft can be caused by an open window when it’s cool outside or even an air conditioner. If it’s dry where you sleep, one possible remedy is to get a humidifier.
Running outside in the winter and breathing through your mouth can also cause this.
Fortunately, the cure for these types of dry sore throats is just to drink some water. You can even help prevent them if you stay hydrated during whatever the activity is (although it may be kind of hard to drink while you’re sleeping!).
In fact, one way to tell if you just have a dry sore throat or if you’re actually experiencing the beginning of a cold is to drink some water. A dry throat will tend to go away, but if you’re getting sick the sensation will stay.
Of course, there are many sicknesses that also make you feel like you have a dry sore throat, including chronic congestion, a cold, the flu, and others. So if the dryness doesn’t go away after a few glasses of water over a few hours, you may want to take other measures.