Asthma and sleep

Night-time asthma symptoms are a sign that your asthma isn’t well-controlled. It may also mean you are at risk of an asthma attack.

If you have symptoms early in the morning, your asthma may have been difficult through the night.

If you wake up tired and spend the day wanting to find time to nap, it's likely that you're not getting enough sleep.

Most of us need around 8 hours of sleep a night. Some people will need more; others will need less. What matters is finding out how much sleep you need and then trying to achieve it.

Keeping your asthma symptoms under control is a great place to start.

There may be a few reasons why your asthma symptoms occur at night:

1. Sleeping on your back puts added pressure on your chest and lungs, making breathing harder. Try propping yourself up with pillows to help keep your airways open.
2. You may find there are asthma triggers in your bedroom. For example, dust mites in your mattress, pillows and sheets. Regular cleaning and washing of your bedsheets (at a high temperature) can help.
3. Breathing in hot air can cause the airways to narrow. If your room gets hot at night, try keeping the heating low.

How to prevent asthma symptoms at night

Using your preventer inhaler every day will build up your protection. This will reduce the chances of symptoms waking you at night. Also, you can:

• Keep track of symptoms as they happen to identify triggers
• Check that you are using a good inhaler technique

Some people with asthma find that anti-allergy bedding helps them. As does keeping pets away from the bedroom. Using an air purifier may also help reduce symptoms.

Speak to your healthcare professional if you often have symptoms at night.‍


What to do when symptoms wake me up

Sit up straight and take your reliever inhaler as prescribed. It may be helpful to keep your inhaler beside your bed.

After taking your reliever inhaler, allow a little time to see if it has dealt with your symptoms.

Some people with asthma experience anxiety and stress when feeling breathless at night.

A good tip if you cannot sleep due to concern about your asthma: get up and do something relaxing. It's best not to lie there and worry.

When you feel sleepy again, you can then return to bed.