Why is sinus drainage worse at night




















Here are some potential factors to consider: 1. Your Sleeping Conditions Imagine your bedroom and ask yourself the following questions: Are your pets sleeping with you at night?

Do you drink coffee before bed? Do you drink alcohol before bed? Do you go to bed dehydrated? If the air in your house is generally dry, invest in a humidifier. This is especially imperative throughout the winter months when the air is typically drier.

Avoid drinking alcohol and coffee before bed. Both can leave you feeling dehydrated, which can irritate your sinuses. Stay hydrated. Hydration will help you feel better as a whole, but it may also function to alleviate some sinus pain. Laying Down, Gravity, and Blood Pressure Many patients are surprised to find out the role gravity and blood pressure play in making sinus issues worse.

The Ideal Sleeping Position When Dealing With a Stuffy Nose The best sleeping position for sinus drainage problems and other sinus issues is to sleep with your head propped up. But when you are lying down gravity is affecting your sinuses in a different direction. This makes it harder for your sinuses to empty. Possible solutions: Once again, try sleeping with your head elevated or sleep with an extra pillow.

You can also try taking an over-the-counter decongestant or sinus medication to help relieve your symptoms and, needless to say, follow all the requisite instructions for any medications you take.

Possible solution: Try using a humidifier. Skip to content Call or Text Us. Meet the Team Patient Intake Forms. Obstructive Sleep Apnea Stop Snoring. This could be because your movements and positions such as sitting upright compared to lying down affect your bodily functions, including blood circulation, causing you to experience certain symptoms, such as nasal congestion or shortness of breath at night , even if you felt perfectly healthy during the day.

In addition to contributing to nasal inflammation, your posture can also affect how mucus builds up in your nasal cavity. While you are standing or sitting upright, you have gravity helping you drain the mucus from your nasal cavity, but when you lie down, it becomes easier for mucus to accumulate and cause congestion. Nasal congestion at night can become especially noticeable when you have a cold, the flu or a sinus infection.

You will notice how quickly a daytime runny nose can quickly turn to a stuffy nose once you lie down to go to sleep. According to the NIH , nasal congestion may be caused by:.

Children and infants have narrower nasal passageways than adults, making them more susceptible to nighttime congestion caused by inflammation or excess mucus. Very young children and especially infants, who mostly breathe through their nose, cannot blow their noses as adults can.

Other long-term effects of nasal congestion in children, as described by the NIH, include speech development, while mucus drainage could lead to ear and sinus infections.

It can be difficult to determine just why your child is experiencing nasal congestion at night because children cannot always clearly explain the type and severity of symptoms that they are experiencing Meltzer et al. However, with younger children, more sudden nasal congestion especially when confined to a single nostril may also be caused by a foreign object obstructing the nasal cavity.

When you are fully awake, you produce more of these hormones, and when we are getting close to sleeping, the production of these hormones starts to dip, leaving our bodies more susceptible to allergic reactions Koinis-Mitchell et al. While partly caused by the dip in allergy-regulating hormones, there are other factors that contribute to this as well. For instance, dust mites are typically concentrated in mattresses and pillows, meaning that you are exposed to them consistently all night long.

Because of this, someone with a dust mite allergy may notice that their symptoms become worse at night and when they first wake up in the morning. Additionally, if you have a pet that has a habit of sleeping on your bed, there will be a higher concentration of pet dander there. Please note that information contained on this site is not medical advice. It should not be used as a substitute for speaking with your physician. Always talk with your physician about diagnosis and treatment information.

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