What is happening to our taste buds when we first start tasting for the day?

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I hope I explain this right, and that it isn’t just exclusive to me.

You wake up, have a bowl of cereal and upon the first taste of the milk your tongue suddenly “burns” for a split second, and it is overwhelmed with a slightly unbearable sensitivity. Then a second passes and everything is back to normal again.

And then maybe time goes by throughout the day where you don’t drink or eat anything with flavor. Dinner comes around and you take your first bite of a burger. Here we go again, a split second of wtf is happening in your mouth and then everything is back to normal.

Are our taste buds “waking up” or something? What’s with the sensory overload for that split second?

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

I have never experienced this, nor have I heard anyone else describe something similar. There is an extent to which the dehydration in your mouth after sleeping affects flavors when you first wake up, but that doesn’t seem to be what you’re describing. Perhaps it’s just a quirk of your body?