What does it mean if I cough a lot at night?

Causes of coughing at night

Coughing during the day can have many causes. At night, on the other hand, it is unusual for healthy people to cough. This is partly because there are fewer stimuli at night that can trigger coughing (e.g. strong smells and smoke), the cough reflex is weaker, and psychological causes of coughing can also be ruled out.

Since many non-disease-related causes of coughing at night can be ruled out, nocturnal coughing may be an expression of an underlying respiratory disease that may need treatment. If a chronic respiratory disease has already been diagnosed, an increase in nocturnal cough may also be the first sign of an increase in disease activity.

Effects of nocturnal cough

The occurrence of coughing at night is often perceived as particularly disturbing, as it can lead to nocturnal awakenings. In many cases, it is the disturbed sleep that causes people to seek medical treatment for their respiratory symptoms.

Research on nocturnal cough

Nocturnal cough has not been well studied in medical research for a long time, because it is difficult to measure it objectively. Through new offerings such as the myCough app, researchers will be able to better study nocturnal cough in the future and find out more about the significance of cough in various diseases.