Introduction
Coughing is a natural reflex of the body and serves to cleanse the airways of mucus and foreign bodies. Many illnesses can make coughing worse for various reasons. A distinction is made between productive cough, with expectoration of phlegm, and dry irritable cough, without expectoration of phlegm.
At night, a mild cough can become stronger due to the lying position and thus prevent the affected person from sleeping. The consequences are daytime tiredness and reduced performance. Some drugs can also cause a dry cough.
The causes
There are a variety of reasons for a night-time increased cough. The most common reasons are classic colds with acute or chronic bronchitis or even pneumonia. In infancy, laryngitis is conceivable.
Heart diseases can also lead to night-time coughing. Allergies and asthma are particularly associated with coughing in childhood and adolescence. Heartburn can also irritate the airways at night.
Certain medications, such as ACE inhibitors, have a dry irritable cough as a side effect. Only in rare cases is the cough caused by serious diseases such as lung cancer. Reflux disease means that stomach acid rises through the esophagus.
During the day, those affected often notice the typical heartburn and frequent belching. In a lying position, however, the gastric acid can continue to rise and reach the throat. There, the stomach acid can flow into the respiratory tract and thus trigger a coughing sensation.
The coughing stimulus is the natural reaction to a foreign substance which must be removed. Sleeping with an elevated upper body can help the person affected, as gravity then prevents the stomach acid from reaching the throat. Hay fever is a typical allergic reaction from which many people suffer, especially in spring.
Hay fever is accompanied by an increased production of mucus both in the nose and in the deeper airways. This mucus also flows back into the respiratory tract in a lying position. The coughing stimulus is triggered to bring up this mucus.
The classic antiallergics can provide some relief. The coughing stimulus usually becomes much less in autumn and winter. n With age, the number of people with heart failure increases significantly.
Heart failure means that the heart is overloaded with blood volume and its task. At night, even more blood is pushed to the heart because the whole body lies in one plane. The blood backs up in front of the heart and water retention in the lungs, the so-called pulmonary edema, occurs.
Those affected get bad air and have a rattling sound of breathing. The body tries to remove the irritation by coughing, but this is not successful. The family doctor can try to help the affected person with various medicines.
