Difficulty breathing while sleeping

Some friends suddenly feel shortness of breath when they are sleeping at night. Many friends who encounter this situation will think that it is because their sleeping posture is not good, which presses on certain organs of the body, thus causing difficulty breathing when sleeping. In fact, if you have difficulty breathing while sleeping for a long time, you need to consider that it may be a precursor to some disease, so I hope that everyone will be alert to this.

However, if you experience difficulty breathing while sleeping occasionally, it is usually caused by a bad sleeping posture. You only need to change your sleeping position after waking up from the suffocation, such as not putting your hands on your chest, or covering your head when sleeping. This way you can avoid difficulty breathing while sleeping.

Cardiac dyspnea: Cardiac dyspnea is mainly caused by left heart failure and has three main clinical manifestations. The main causes of dyspnea in left heart failure are pulmonary congestion and decreased alveolar elasticity.

1. Exertional dyspnea

Dyspnea that occurs or worsens during physical activity and decreases or eases during rest is called exertional dyspnea.

2. Orthopnea

It often worsens when lying down and improves when sitting upright, so the patient is forced to sit upright or semi-recumbent to reduce the degree of dyspnea, which is called orthopnea.

3. Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea

In left heart failure, paroxysmal dyspnea often occurs due to acute pulmonary congestion. People often feel short of breath and wake up at night after sleeping. This is called nocturnal paroxysmal dyspnea. During an attack, the patient is forced to sit up and gasp for breath and cough. In mild cases, the symptoms disappear after tens of minutes. In severe cases, the patient will have a cyanotic complexion, sweating, wheezing with breathing, and coughing up serous pink foamy sputum. Physical examination will reveal moist rales at the bases of both lungs, an increased heart rate, and a gallop rhythm. This type of breathing is also called cardiac asthma. It is common in hypertensive heart disease, coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, rheumatic heart valve disease, myocarditis, etc.

The above are some of the disease factors that cause difficulty breathing during sleep. There is another factor that may cause difficulty breathing during sleep, which is sleep apnea syndrome. Many people do not know the existence of this disease, but it does exist, and the main symptom is difficulty breathing during sleep. Therefore, when you are looking for the cause, you can see if this factor is the cause.