People who have coughed know that, generally speaking, coughing in the daytime will be mild and slow, but at night, it will be very serious. What's the matter? Coughing at night is very uncomfortable, and it will affect the rest of the family. Let's find out what's the cause of the coughing
Normal physiological factors of mild cough during the day and severe cough at night
Physiological research shows that cough is a reflexive defensive behavior of respiratory self-protection. A complete coughing action should go through the following steps: first, inhale, then close the glottis, and forcefully contract through the intercostal muscles and diaphragm to generate about 40 kPa of intrapulmonary pressure, At the same time, the glottis suddenly open, the air in the lung rushes out of the respiratory tract, and the secretions or foreign matters adhered to the respiratory mucosa are ejected, finally forming a cough action. These complex and coordinated actions are caused by stimulation of the peripheral receptors, stimulation of the respiratory center of the medulla oblongata via the afferent nerve, and then stimulation of the respiratory center, acting on the intercostal muscles, diaphragm and glottis via the efferent nerve, resulting in coughing and expectoration. The afferent coughing center of the sensory impulse and the excitation of the coughing center are mainly transmitted through the vagus nerve.
During the day, the excitation of vagus nerve is not very high, so we will feel that the cough during the day is not very serious. After sleeping at night, because the excitation of vagus nerve will increase, the smooth muscle of bronchus will contract, the lumen of bronchus will be reduced, the sensitivity of respiratory tract will increase, and the stimulation of respiratory secretion will lead to cough It becomes more intense and frequent, which is the key reason for a bad cough at night.
Why coughing gets worse at night
There are also different reasons for cough and night aggravation.
1. Patients with chronic cardiac insufficiency will have cough symptoms, and for the aggravation of this situation at night, it may be due to sleep at night to take a supine position, aggravating the congestion of the lungs and causing cough. It can be solved by changing the sleeping position. And sleep to half suddenly chest tightness, can't breathe, cough more than, there are bloody sputum and other serious conditions, is likely to be caused by heart disease cough, it's best to go to the cardiovascular department for medical treatment as soon as possible.
2. If you have chronic bronchitis and other diseases, you may also cough violently because of the aggravation of sputum stimulation when you sleep and lie down at night.
3. If you suffer from chronic pharyngitis, when you sleep, open your mouth to breathe, the throat and respiratory mucosa are stimulated by cold air for a long time, causing airway spasm and cough, etc.
4. Because of the indoor temperature, it is hot in summer and cold in winter. Many people sleep at night with the air conditioner on, which is easy to aggravate their coughing at night. At night, if you have a bad cough, you should first keep the air in your bedroom moist and not dry. When you have a bad cough at night, you can drink a large mouthful of cold boiled water to reduce your cough.
5. Illness causes a cough at night, such as an allergic cough. Anaphylactic cough is a persistent or recurrent acute cough, most of which are paroxysmal and obvious in the morning. The cough at night is more serious than that in daytime, and lasts for a long time, usually for 3 months, with more pollen seasons.
6. Just go to bed within half an hour began to cough, sit up after some relief. This kind of cough is caused by the back flow of nasal mucus to stimulate the throat. It may be caused by upper respiratory tract infection, such as allergic or non allergic rhinitis, and acute and chronic sinusitis.
7. Cough at 4 or 5 a.m. if it is the case for a long time, it may be asthma attack. You need to see a doctor in time and find out the allergen. If it is the case for a short time, it may be bronchitis.
8. It is likely to be caused by gastroesophageal reflux when the cough is accompanied by chest tightness, flatulence, dry mouth and bitter mouth, hoarseness of voice, heartburn and other symptoms.
9. If you cough suddenly in your sleep, you feel like you are choked, and you have light sleep and many nightmares, you may have upper airway obstruction syndrome, which is related to sleep apnea syndrome, and you can be diagnosed in sleep specialty.
Therefore, it is necessary to check specifically what causes the cough and then treat it symptomatically.