How to Stop Coughing at Night: Breathe-Easy Exercise

Woman: night sleep, cough stopped How to stop coughing even at night? Persistent coughing at night or daytime is the most common symptom among asthmatics. Over a quarter of million of asthmatics became symptom-free naturally, and stopped persistent coughing at night using one breathing technique called the Buteyko Emergency Procedure. It stops bouts of persistent coughing (and dry cough) naturally and helps to fall asleep fast.

Effects of overbreathing on brain oxygen levels The Buteyko breathing method has been used by more than 100 MDs in the USSR and Russia for over 40 years. These doctors taught this exercise to their patients with asthma, COPD, bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis, and other conditions. It also solves the problem how to stop coughing at night. It works fine for dry cough at night, excessive or severe cough, nagging bouts of coughing, and other similar situations. Can't stop persistent coughing during the day?

Coughing means breathing about 3-5 times more air than the medical norm. This activity is called "hyperventilation".

' Overbreathing reduces oxygen levels in the brain, heart, and all other vital organs (see links with medical studies below). This is the main reason why coughing promotes chronic diseases, like asthma, COPD, cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, and many others.

Steps to follow (if you can't stop persistent coughing at night)

The preliminary requirements in order to eliminate or stop coughing at night are:
1. Go to sleep when you are really sleepy, not earlier.
2. Before and during sleep breathe only through the nose (if you can't, learn the "Breathing exercise to unblock the nose").
3. Do not sleep on your back (if this is your problem, learn the therapy “How to prevent sleeping on back”).

' Relax all your muscles when you are already lying in bed on your tummy or left side even if you have a cough. Next, pinch your nose and hold your breath until discomfort. If you cannot hold your breath because you can't stop coughing, cough only through the nose and inhale using your nose too.

After the breath hold, take a small inhalation (one small sniff) and do it only through the nose. If you have a persistent cough, limit your inhalations and exhalations, while coughing only through the nose. After this short inhalation, relax all body muscles, especially upper chest and shoulders in order to exhale slowly. The exhalation must be natural and unforced. Take another small inhalation and again completely relax to exhale.

With each breath, take a small or reduced inhalation and then try to completely relax even though you still have a cough (again, all this must be done through the nose only). Your goal is to gently create air hunger while relaxing your body muscles. You will soon experience light air hunger.

Reduced breathing for those who can't stop coughing at night

' Your breathing can be frequent during this reduced or shallow breathing exercise, but this is OK. If you do the exercise correctly (you breathe less while being relaxed), you will notice 2 signs:
- The arms and feet will get warm in 1-2 minutes after starting the reduced breathing (this is the central sign);
- The nasal passages will become moist and the nose colder.

Preserve this comfortable level of air hunger for some minutes until you fall asleep. You need to breathe less and have air hunger! This is also the fastest way to fall asleep naturally. This method has already helped thousands of cough sufferers (with asthma, bronchitis, COPD, emphysema, cystic fibrosis, and other conditions) with severe cough, constant coughing, and dry cough.

' During the daytime, the same breathing exercise will help you to reduce the duration of your bouts of coughing by at least 3-4 times. If you study this page with the explanation of the mechanism of cough, you will understand more how and why this technique works: The Cause of Cough - A general overview of the pathological physiological mechanism that makes coughing chronic or persistent.

You will solve your problem with chronic or persistent coughing, if you slow down your automatic breathing back to the medical norm and get more than 20 seconds for the body oxygen test 24/7.

This YouTube video (on the right side) has a title How to Stop Coughing Naturally. It explains the same breathing exercise as above.

Here are other YouTube Videos with numerous quotes from medical studies about ineffective medication and cough syrups. The videos also address causes of coughing and describe how to stop a cough:
- Cough Medicine and Best Cough Suppressants: (CO2 and NO)
- Most Natural Remedies for Cough.

Reference pages: Breathing norms and medical facts:
- Breathing norms: Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
- 6 breathing myths: Myths and superstitions about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
- Hyperventilation: Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
- Hyperventilation syndrome: Western scientific evidence about prevalence of chronic hyperventilation in patients with chronic conditions (37 medical studies)
- Normal minute ventilation: Small and slow breathing at rest is enjoyed by healthy subjects (14 studies)
- Hyperventilation prevalence: Present in over 90% of normal people (24 medical studies)
- HV and hypoxia: How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
- Body-oxygen test (CP test) : How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (two in one) using a simple DIY test
- Body oxygen in healthy: Results for the body-oxygen test for healthy people (27 medical studies)
- Body oxygen in sick : Results for the body-oxygen test for sick people (14 medical studies)
- Buteyko Table of Health Zones: Clinical description and ranges for breathing zones: from the critically ill (severely sick) up to super healthy people with maximum possible body oxygenation
- Morning hyperventilation: Why people feel worse and critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: pages about CO2 effect:
- Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
- The Bohr effect: How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
- Cell oxygen levels: How alveolar CO2 influences oxygen transport
- Oxygen transport: O2 transport is controlled by vasoconstriction-vasodilation and the Bohr effects, both of which rely on CO2
- Free radical generation: Reactive oxygen species are produced within cells due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia
- Inflammatory response: Chronic inflammation in fueled by the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces and eliminates inflammation
- Nerve stabilization: People remain calm due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
- Muscle relaxation: Relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
- Bronchodilation: Dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) is caused by carbon dioxide, and their constriction by hypocapnia (low CO2)
- Blood pH: Regulation of blood pH due to breathing and regulation of other bodily fluids
- CO2: lung damage: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents lung injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
- CO2: Topical carbon dioxide can heal skin and tissues
- Synthesis of glutamine in the brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
- Deep breathing myth: Ignorant and naive people promote the idea that deep breathing and breathing more air at rest is beneficial for health
- Breathing control: How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven, irregular and erratic.

References

J Assoc Physicians India. 2000 Mar; vol 48(no. 3): p. 343-345.
The role of cough and hyperventilation in perpetuating airway inflammation in asthma.
Singh V, Chowdhary R, Chowdhary N.
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, SMS Medical College, Jaipur-302 016, India.
Air flowing through a pipe exerts frictional stress on the walls of the pipe. Frictional stress of more than 40 N/m2 (velocity equivalent of air 113 m/s) is known to cause acute endothelial damage in blood vessels. The frictional stress in airways during coughing may be much greater, however, since the velocity of air may be as high as speed of sound in air. We suggest that high levels of frictional stress perpetuate airway inflammation in airways which are already inflamed and vulnerable to frictional stress-induced trauma in patients with asthma. Activities associated with rapid ventilation and higher frictional stress (e.g. exercise, hyperventilation, coughing, sneezing and laughing) cause asthma to worsen whilst activities that reduce frictional stress (Yoga 'Pranayama', breathing a helium-oxygen mixture and nasal continuous positive airway pressure) are beneficial. Therefore control of cough may have anti-inflammatory benefits in patients with asthma.

Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2007 Jun 15; 156(3): p. 331-339.
Cough and ventilatory adjustments evoked by aerosolised capsaicin and distilled water (fog) in man.
Lavorini F, Pantaleo T, Geri P, Mutolo D, Pistolesi M, Fontana GA.
Dipartimento di Area Critica Medico Chirurgica, Unità Funzionale di Medicina Respiratoria, Università di Firenze, Viale G.B. Morgagni 85, 50134 Firenze, Italy.
Airway receptors mediate cough and ventilatory adjustments. Simultaneous assessment of cough sensory-motor components and changes in breathing pattern may provide insights into the receptors prevailingly stimulated by inhaled irritants. Nineteen subjects inhaled capsaicin and fog up to threshold concentrations for cough. Cough intensity, respiratory sensations and changes in breathing pattern induced by the two irritants were compared. Capsaicin and fog cough threshold values did not correlate. Coughing induced by both agents was preceded by qualitatively similar sensations and by significant increases in minute ventilation and respiratory drive due to selective increases in tidal volume (P<0.01). Cough intensity was similar with both agents. Cough frequency and the intensity of the urge to cough were higher with capsaicin (P<0.01). The lack of correlation between fog and capsaicin cough threshold values suggests differences in the neural mechanisms activated. The selective increase in tidal volume suggests prevailing involvement of rapidly adapting receptors. The stronger sensations evoked by capsaicin may contribute to the higher cough frequency observed with this agent.

Monaldi Arch Chest Dis. 1999 Jun;54(3):275-9.
Advances in understanding and treatment of cough.
Widdicombe JG.
Sherrington School of Physiology, St. Thomas' Hospital Campus (UMDS), London, UK.
Many different conditions and diseases cause cough. The commonest acute causes are pollution, including cigarette smoke, and upper respiratory tract infection. The commonest chronic causes are postnasal drip, asthma, chronic bronchitis and gastro-oesophageal reflux. Epidemiological studies give widely different patterns of incidence. The different conditions that cause cough have in common the fact that the cough is mediated via the vagus nerves, with sensory receptors in and under the epithelium from the larynx down to the smaller bronchi. These receptors are polymodal, responding to a large variety of stimuli, including mechanical and chemical irritants, inflammatory mediators, intraluminal material and large volume changes of the lungs. With irritation and inflammation, C fibre receptors release neurokinins such as substance P, which in turn stimulate cough receptors. The central nervous pathways for the cough reflex are poorly understood. They can be activated or inhibited voluntarily. Studies on the pharmacology of the central nervous pathways of coughing are opening up new therapeutic possibilities. Other new therapies include drugs acting on the sensory receptors for cough, thereby avoiding adverse central nervous effects.

Pulm Pharmacol Ther. 2007;20(4):416-22.
The problem of cough and development of novel antitussives.
Barnes PJ.
Department of Thoracic Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Dovehouse Street, London SW3 6LY, UK. p.j.barnes@imperial.ac.uk
Cough is a very common clinical symptom and current therapies are largely ineffective, indicating a major unmet medial need. There is a pressing need to develop novel and safe antitussive therapies. This is likely to arise from better understanding of the sensory nerves involved in cough and the signalling pathways that are activated. A major therapeutic target should be sensitization of the cough reflex which is a feature of patients with both acute (virally induced) cough and chronic cough, including chronic idiopathic cough. Studies on human cough mechanisms are limited. There are several novel therapeutic approaches that are currently being explored. Perhaps the most promising drugs are transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV(1)) antagonists, selective cannabinoid agonists (CB2 agonists), maxi-K channel openers and P2X3 antagonists. New cough therapies may target airway nerve sensitization and may best be delivered as inhalers to minimize any systemic effects. Understanding the intercellular signalling pathways involved in nociception may lead to novel drugs, such as p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase inhibitors, being used in the treatment of cough in the future. It is also likely that several novel treatments that are developed as analgesics will also prove to be beneficial in the treatment of cough.