You’ve gone through your nighttime routine, relaxed and ready for sleep. Except when you lie down, an annoying cough starts up. If this happens night after night, you may begin to ask, “Why do I cough when I lie down?”
We wish there was one simple answer. The truth is, that myriad underlying conditions could be behind your nighttime cough. To help, we compiled a list of potential causes, tips on how to discover which one is to blame, and actionable ways to get a better night’s sleep.
Understanding nighttime coughing
“Nighttime coughing is a persistent cough that occurs primarily or exclusively at night,” says Paul Daidone, MD, FASAM, an internal medicine specialist in Arkansas, “This symptom can disrupt sleep, leading to fatigue and a lower quality of life.” And symptom is the keyword here.
Nighttime coughing isn’t in and of itself a diagnosis, but a symptom of an underlying condition.
Coughs, whether at nighttime or during the day, are a reflex by the body’s immune system. Their goal: To get foreign objects out of the body. If you’re sick, for example, the immune system will do everything it can to get rid of the illness, including coughing. The same can be said about if you accidentally take a giant gulp of water when swimming. Coughing is a way to get that water out.
Coughs have many potential causes, though there are three factors that can help pinpoint the underlying condition: accompanying symptoms, if the cough occurs at night, during the day or both, and if it’s acute or chronic.
If you are confused about what constitutes a chronic cough, you’re not alone. Chronic varies, depending on the symptom or medical condition. For coughing specifically, “it is considered chronic when it lasts more than eight weeks in adults and four weeks in children,” says Dr. Daidone.