Why do people with asthma feel worse at night?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Siale
  • Start date Start date
interesting question. But I know it's true! Not just for asthma though! The last few years I've been through alot, orthepedic surgery, asthma, and cancer. All of them I felt worse at night! I think in the day we are busy doing stuff and ignore symptoms but when you lay in bed you more are more atuned to your body, plus your metabolism winRAB down so you have less blood going around. In asthma, when you lay down your breathing gets harders, plus gravity? so mucus builRAB up. I know I have this annoying allergic post nasal drip that only really bothers me at night, so then my throat gets blocked and I wake up choking.
 
The body is "programmed" to shut down at night for sleeping. (Reference: Circadian Rhythm). Part of this shutdown is the production of Melatonin, which makes people sleepy. To further help us to sleep, the body shuts off Adrenal Hormones, chemicals which protect against Asthmatic and allergic reactions.

So....... at night our body naturally stops producing the hormones that protect us against allergic/Asthmatic reactions, swelling among other things.
 
Not all asthmatics do. Please don't infer that this is true for all as it gives people just starting out with asthma a false sense of what their life will be like. Many of us have no issues at night as our asthma is well controlled.
 
I usually do not feel worse at night. I feel worst during or immediately after exposure to my triggers, and my bedroom is as trigger-free as I can reasonably make it. My big triggers are pollen and weather, and those are most commonly found outside.

With other people, I've heard, it's different. Several hours AFTER exposure to the trigger, when relaxed in sleep, their bodies have another reaction, which causes the middle-of-the-night attacks.
 
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