What is the reason for difficulty breathing at night

If breathing difficulties are severe at night, it may be life-threatening. Therefore, friends who have difficulty breathing at night would like to know the reasons for the difficulty breathing at night. So what is the cause of difficulty breathing at night? Next, this article will introduce to you the relevant content about why you have difficulty breathing at night. Friends who want to know more about this knowledge may wish to take a look!

What causes difficulty breathing at night? Trouble breathing at night is most likely caused by paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea is a sudden onset of dyspnea during sleep in patients with left heart failure. In addition to the adverse effects of changing from a sitting position to a supine position when sleeping, dyspnea occurs at night and is more severe because the vagus nerve tension increases after falling asleep at night, the small bronchi contract, and the airway resistance increases; at the same time, the central sensitivity to incoming stimuli decreases after deep sleep, and the patient will only feel shortness of breath and wake up when pulmonary congestion is severe.

The patient's blood stasis worsens when he lies flat, and he suddenly wakes up from his sleep and is forced to sit up. In mild cases, the symptoms disappear after a few minutes to tens of minutes. Some patients have coughing and coughing up foamy sputum. Some patients have bronchospasm and dry rales in both lungs, which is similar to bronchial asthma, also known as cardiac asthma. Severe cases may cough up pink foamy sputum and develop into acute pulmonary edema. The essence is caused by systemic circulation congestion, which is common in left heart failure.

Mechanism of paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea:

1. When lying flat, the amount of blood returning to the heart increases, the amount of blood ejected by the right ventricle increases, and pulmonary congestion is aggravated.

2. When lying flat, the diaphragm rises, compressing the lungs and aggravating breathing difficulties.

3. At night, the vagus nerve tension increases, the heart rate decreases, and the left ventricular output decreases, aggravating pulmonary congestion. At the same time, vagus nerve excitement causes tracheal smooth muscle contraction, aggravating breathing difficulties.

What to do if you have trouble breathing at night?

1. Pay attention to rest. Controlling physical activities, avoiding mental stimulation, and reducing the burden on the heart will help restore heart function. However, long-term bed rest can easily lead to venous thrombosis or even pulmonary embolism, and can also reduce digestive function and cause muscle atrophy. Therefore, patients with heart failure should be encouraged to take active exercise. Depending on the severity of the disease, they can start by sitting by the bed and gradually increase symptom-limiting aerobic exercise, such as walking.

2. Control sodium intake. Patients with heart failure have increased blood volume and water and sodium retention in the body, so reducing sodium salt intake can help alleviate symptoms such as edema. However, it should be noted that when using potent sodium-excreting diuretics, overly strict salt restriction can lead to hyponatremia.

The above is an introduction to what causes difficulty breathing at night. I believe that after reading the above introduction, you already know what causes difficulty breathing at night. From the above introduction, we can know that the symptom of difficulty breathing at night is mainly caused by the disease of paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Therefore, once it is diagnosed, it needs timely treatment.