Cant Sleep Due To Cough And Sore Throat 10 Things You Can Do
Anybody that struggles with a common cold, upper respiratory infection, or allergy will likely find their cough or sore throat worse at night. This can be frustrating, as Family Practice explains how a lack of quality sleep is often linked to the recurrence of immunity deficiency.
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity discuss how respiratory infections go hand in hand with broken sleep and difficulty dozing off. This is expected, as a sore throat can make swallowing painful, while a constant cough is distracting and pulls us from a pre-sleep state.
This means that action should be taken to prevent a cough or sore throat from interfering with sleep. The first step to this is determining the cause of the infection. For example, an allergic reaction requires different solutions to a bacterial infection.
Equally, the manner of the cough that interferes with your sleep must be taken under advisement. A wet cough, caused by excessive mucus in the chest, will benefit from a different approach to a dry, hacking cough and sore throat.
Medication Or Alcohol Use
Certain medications can interfere with your sleep patterns just like alcohol. Disrupted sleep means you dont sleep as well as you should and can result in sleep deprivation and morning headaches. If you drink too heavily, it can also cause a hangover which usually results in a headache or migraine. Pay attention to the possible side effects of the medications you take and how they might affect your sleep. Its also important to not over-consume alcohol to avoid morning headaches.
Central Disorders Of Hypersomnolence
Central disorders of hypersomnolence are characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness not caused by disturbed nocturnal sleep or by abnormalities of circadian rhythm. The cardinal feature of all the central disorders of hypersomnolence is a subjective complaint of excessive daytime sleepiness, defined as daily episodes of an irrepressible need for sleep or daytime lapses into sleep .
Narcolepsy has an estimated prevalence of 0.025% to 0.05% with an age of onset varying from early childhood to the 50s with the first peak at 15âyears and the second at 35âyears .
A dysregulation of brainstem areas, including periaqueductal gray, the dorsal raphe nucleus, and the locus coeruleus has been proposed as a possible pathophysiological link between migraine and narcolepsy. Those regions participate to the transmission and modulation of pain in migraine , promote wakefulness and regulate sleep-wake sleep transition .
KEY MESSAGE: Migraine and narcolepsy are frequently comorbid but the available evidence does not allow full understanding of the strength and of the direction of this association. The pathophysiological mechanisms of both disorders seem to converge and involve the orexinergic system. The evidence of converging pathophysiological mechanisms may support the development of targeted treatment acting simultaneously on both conditions.
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How Much Sleep Do You Need
Most healthy adults require seven to nine hours of sleep each night, but this varies by person. Some people may require more, while others may require less, and sleep needs can change throughout our lives.
To determine how much sleep you need, try testing it out by going to bed when you’re tired and sleeping straight through until you naturally wake up. While this isn’t always possible for people with children, work schedules, pets, and other obligations, if you can set aside a few nights, you’ll likely find the average length of time your body prefers to sleep.
Snack On A Green Apple
But before you take a bite, take a deep whiff. One study from Chicagos Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation found that headache sufferers who sniffed the smell of green apple had a greater improvement in their pain compared to those who didnt smell anything.
Whats more, the carbohydrates in the apple can actually help you feel less stressed. Thats because your brain uses carbs to produce the feel-good, relaxation-promoting hormone serotonin.
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Causes Of Acute Headaches
- Viral Illnesses. Most acute headaches are part of a viral illness. Flu is a common example. These headaches may relate to the level of fever. Most often, they last a few days.
- Hunger Headaches. About 30% of people get a headache when they are hungry. It goes away within 30 minutes of eating something.
- MSG Headache. MSG is a flavor enhancer sometimes added to soups or other foods. In larger amounts, it can cause the sudden onset of a throbbing headache. Flushing of the face also occurs.
- Common Harmless Causes. Hard exercise, bright sunlight, blowing a wind instrument or gum chewing have been reported. So has severe coughing. “Ice cream headaches” are triggered by any icy food or drink. The worse pain is between the eyes .
- Head Injury. Most just cause a scalp injury. This leads to a painful spot on the scalp for a few days. Severe, deeper or entire-head pain needs to be seen.
- Frontal Sinus Infection. Can cause a headache on the forehead just above the eyebrow. Other symptoms are nasal congestion and postnasal drip. Rare before 10 years old. Reason: the frontal sinus is not yet formed. Other sinus infections cause face pain, not headaches.
- Meningitis . A bacterial infection of the membrane that covers the spinal cord and brain. The main symptoms are a stiff neck, headache, confusion and fever. Younger children are lethargic or so irritable that they can’t be consoled. If not treated early, child can suffer brain damage.
Avoid Caffeine Alcohol And Meals Too Close To Bedtime
Rosen recommends paying attention to how your diet and fluid intake affect your sleep. To improve sleep, he suggests the following:
- Avoid alcohol if it causes you to wake up after falling asleep.
- Avoid caffeine after a certain hour .
- Dont have a full meal too close to bedtime.
- Limit your fluids after a certain hour to avoid having to use the bathroom at night.
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Whats The Best Treatment For Headache From Lack Of Sleep
The ill-effects of a sleep-deprivation headache are serious. They can affect your mood, performance, focus, and energy.
A migraine with aura can be dangerous as well. When this occurs, you may start seeing visions, which are disturbances like halos or flashes of light.
It can be a sign that blood flow to the brain is weak. This may result in the death of the organs cells.
Usually, when youre susceptible to a headache due to lack of sleep, you pop a pill. Some pain medicines, though, can do more harm than good.
They may lead to long-term side effects. You may feel better, but they may affect your level of energy causing you to still wake up without having a restful sleep.
To improve your good nights sleep, consider exploring other therapies and tips like the following:
How Much Should You Sleep
Insomnia can make it difficult to fall asleep or can cause you to wake up early and not be able to fall back asleep. Anything less than seven hours of sleep is considered short for most healthy adults, who need seven to nine hours of sleep each night for good health.
Heres how much sleep a person needs at each age:
| Age |
- jet lag
- using the wrong pillow
Just as there is evidence that a lack of sleep can contribute to headaches, too much sleep can also cause headaches.
If you do get a tension or migraine headache from a lack of sleep, seeking treatment right away can help reduce its duration and severity.
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How Can I Stop Them
If you have trouble sleeping at night:
- Don’t nap during the day.
- Avoid caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and large meals close to bedtime.
- If you can’t sleep, get out of bed. Do something quiet in low light somewhere else until you get sleepy.
- Keep your phone, tablet, or laptop out of the bed. The screen’s light can trick your body into thinking the sun is still up and keep you awake. It’s also a bad habit to watch movies, text, or read online when you’re in bed.
- Get up and go to bed at the same times each day.
Breathing exercises. Sit or lie down with your eyes closed. Take several long, slow, deep breaths. Get your lungs to fill and your belly to rise. Then breathe out slowly, and repeat.
Meditation. This is simply turning your attention to your breath, a word, an image, or something else that you choose to focus on. Other thoughts will come up. That’s OK. Try not to get wrapped up in them. Just let them go.
It’s not about being a mellow person or following any particular faith. And it doesn’t matter what type of meditation you do, Rosenberg says. They all help. Experiment and find a form that works for you.
What Are The Treatments For Hypnic Headaches
Caffeine is considered to be the most effective treatment for hypnic headaches. It sounds counterintuitive, but a cup of coffee can help people with hypnic headaches sleep through the night. It also has relatively minimal side effects, especially when compared with other medications for hypnic headaches, such as lithium, indomethacin, and flunarizine.
A cup of strong coffee is the recommended treatment for both preventing hypnic headaches, as well as relieving them once they have started. If your doctor diagnoses you with hypnic headaches, they may recommend drinking a cup of coffee before bed.
Caffeine pills and pain relievers containing caffeine can also be effective at relieving hypnic headaches. However, regular use can lead to medication overuse headache, a type of rebound headache caused by excessive use of medications.
After caffeine, lithium is the next recommended treatment option for preventing hypnic headaches, followed by indomethacin. Both of these drugs are effective but can have unwanted side effects. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , opioids, and acetaminophen are not effective at relieving hypnic headaches.
Treatment prevents hypnic headaches for a majority of people. Over 40% never experience them again, even after they stop treatment.
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What Causes A Hypnic Headache
Hypnic headaches are considered a primary headache disorder, which means they are not caused by a known underlying condition. Beyond that, researchers dont know for sure what causes hypnic headaches.
Hypnic headaches often occur during rapid eye movement sleep, so its possible that an area of the brain involved with processing pain gets activated, leading to a hypnic headache.
Hypnic headaches may also be linked to melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone that makes you feel sleepy, and its production levels rise and fall throughout the day in line with your sleep-wake cycle. Because hypnic headaches occur at the same time each night, some researchers believe there may be a disturbance to the underlying rhythms that regulate melatonin production, which causes lower melatonin levels and, subsequently, hypnic headaches.
Part of the evidence supporting this theory comes from the efficacy of lithium in treating hypnic headaches, since lithium is effective in treating other chronobiological disorders and helps increase melatonin levels.
Factors That Affect Sleep Needs
The amount of sleep you need depends on several factors, including your age, lifestyle, health, genetics, and whether you’ve been getting enough sleep recently. Experts generally recommend sleep guidelines close to the following:
- Infants need 12â16 hours
- Toddlers need 11â14 hours
- Preschoolers need 10â13 hours
- School-age children need nine to 12 hours
- Adolescents need eight to 10 hours
- Adults need seven to nine hours
- Elderly adults need seven to eight hours
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The Link Between Headaches And Sleep
A good nights sleep keeps us healthy and happy, and for headache sufferers, its particularly important. Irregular sleep patterns may trigger headaches in some and changes in sleep patterns may trigger migraines in some.
The linkbetween headaches and sleep has been known for decades, but what isnt clear is whether headaches cause disrupted sleep or whether headaches are a result of irregular sleep patterns.1 . Generally, alack of sleep is known to triggerheadaches and migrainesin some people.2In a large study of migraine sufferers, half said sleep disturbances contributed to their headaches. And those who slept only six hours a night on average had more frequent and more severe headaches than those who slept longer.3
But the opposite is also true. Too much sleep can trigger headaches as well particularly migraines and tension-type headaches4
In addition to irregular sleep patterns, sleep disorders and headaches are linked. In fact, sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia and circadian rhythm disorder are disproportionately observedin people with headache diagnoses, including migraines and tension-type headaches.5
Although the relationship between headaches and sleep is complex and more studies are needed to fully understand it, it is thought that a part of your brain important for sleep called the hypothalamus could be involvedin some headaches.6 For example, two types of rare headaches are inherently linked to sleep: cluster headaches and hypnic headaches.7 8 9
Can Lack Of Sleep Cause Headaches
Its possible to develop a headache from lack of sleep, especially chronic migraine and tension headaches.
Chronic migraine sufferers can have moderate to severe pain that can last for hours or even days. Other symptoms are nausea and vomiting.
Migraine headache is distinct from other types of headaches because it tends to affect only one side of the head. Also, sounds and lights can worsen the pain.
Tension headaches are also common. Symptoms such as throbbing pain can impact different sides of the head, including the top and the back.
Whats the link between them and sleep, however? The answers are REM sleep and a lower pain threshold.
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Practice A Relaxation Technique
Many people who have migraine have difficulty falling asleep, according to Rosen. He tells his patients to build relaxation skills with regular exercise, deep abdominal breathing, and biofeedback.
There are many studies being done now on mindfulness and headache, says Rosen. Practicing yoga positions while being mindful before bedtime may be just what the doctor ordered to quiet an active mind and manage migraine.
Yoga nidra, a form of guided meditation that is practiced lying down, may be the most relaxing type of yoga. A monthlong study published in September 2020 in Current Psychology found that people who practiced an 11-minute yoga nidra meditation showed lower stress, greater well-being, and improved sleep quality compared with a control group.
Free yoga nidra recordings in a variety of languages can be heard on the Yoga Nidra Network website.
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The Link Between Headaches And Lack Of Sleep
While research shows a link between certain types of headaches and not getting enough sleep, this relationship is complex and not fully understood. However, these types of headaches likely stem from a disruption in balance between sleep and wakefulness in the body.
Changes that throw off your sleep-wake pattern can lead to headaches, such as:
- Not getting enough sleep
- A sleep disorder
- Sleeping across different time zones
- Sleeping at fragmented times
It’s recommended that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep can lead to adverse health effects and can make it more difficult for various functions in the body to restore properly.
Mechanisms involved in the sleep cycle regulation are thought to play a role in headaches, including:
- Chemical messengers like serotonin
- Brain structures like the brain stem and hypothalamus
- Glymphatic system
Some people are more likely to experience headaches due to lack of sleep. This can include people who suffer from chronic migraine, people who routinely sleep less than the recommended amount, and people who experience chronic stress.
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Primary Vs Secondary Headaches
There are two major kinds of headaches: primary headaches, which include migraines, cluster headaches, and tension headaches and secondary headaches, which are caused by underlying factors such as medical conditions. Both kinds of headaches are common in cancer patients certain kinds of treatment, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy, can cause headaches.
A red flag that a headache could be indicative of a medical issue is if it is a new or unusual headache for example, one that causes someone to wake up at night, or one that is associated with changes in position. Another red flag is if the headache is accompanied by other symptoms, such as weight loss. Some headaches can be relieved through over-the-counter pain medication, or by having a cup of coffee, for coffee drinkers but if the headache is persistent and doesnt improve like it normally would with typical measures, there could be cause for concern and enough reason to see a primary care physician.
What Are The Symptoms Of A Hypnic Headache
Symptoms of a hypnic headache include:
- Dull or throbbing pain affecting one or both sides of the head
- Waking up in the middle of the night due to headache, multiple times a month
- Nausea
- Sensitivity to light or sounds
- Runny eyes or nose
The primary symptom of a hypnic headache is dull or throbbing head pain that occurs during sleep, multiple times per month, usually around the same time of night. Some people experience additional symptoms during a hypnic headache, such as nausea or sensitivity to light or sounds.
Hypnic headaches can be unilateral or bilateral, which means they can affect one or both sides of your head. However, its more common for a hypnic headache to affect both sides.
Hypnic headaches can range in severity, but theyre painful enough to rouse you from sleep. The majority of people describe the pain as moderate to severe.
Another distinguishing feature of hypnic headaches is the time they occur. Hypnic headaches usually occur in the middle of the night, around two to three hours after falling asleep, or between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. They often occur around the same time and may even happen multiple times per night7. Hypnic headaches can last for 15 minutes to three hours, with an average of 90 minutes.
While hypnic headaches are rare, theyre a common experience for those who have them occurring at least 10 times a month. Some people experience them at least every other day.
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