Have you ever noticed that congestion seems to get worse at night?
It may seem like right around the time you’d like to lay it down for the night you notice how you can’t breathe as easy because your nose is too stuffy.
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There could be a number of reasons for that:
1.) Gravity
When we lie down our blood pressure changes, and we may experience increased blood flow to the upper part of our body including our head and nasal passageways.
This increased blood flow can make the vessels inside our nose and nasal passageways even more inflamed.
If you’ve ever been pregnant or been around someone pregnant, the discomfort when laying down isn’t only caused by the baby, but the increased blood flow also commonly causes congestion.
A lying-down position also makes it more difficult to clear mucus from our nose and sinus cavities.
For example, while we are standing up during the day, mucus is constantly running from our nose and sinuses into the backs of our throat and being swallowed.
Most of the time we don’t even notice this. At night, however, this mucus may pool or back up. Many people notice that their congestion starts to improve an hour or two after they get up in the morning.
That’s gravity working in your favor instead of against you.
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2.) The Climate
A dry environment can