Other reasons for a runny nose in the morning

You wake up after a long night's sleep hoping to feel all refreshed and looking forward to a good day but the first thing you end up doing is sneezing while your nose runs. Thankfully, a handy box of tissues is right on your nightstand because this is something you're now used to. You wake up with a runny nose more often than not, but why and what can you do to stop it from happening?

Just because you're waking up with a stuffy or runny nose doesn't mean you have a cold, but it does mean you can be suffering from allergies and not just seasonal ones. According to the Sleep Foundation, 40% of Americans suffer from allergies, also known as allergic rhinitis, that can become worse at night, leading to poor sleep as it makes your ability to breathe at night more difficult. Healthline reports that a National Health and Nutrition Examination survey found that 74% of Americans are exposed to at least 3-6 allergens per night, exacerbating sleep and making for a morning full of Kleenex.

Are bedroom allergens causing your runny nose?

Sometimes it's not outside influences affecting your breathing while you sleep but instead the goings-on in your own body. According to Healthline, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, also known as GERD, could be the reason. While this is primarily a digestive issue, your stomach contents can back up into your nasal passages when you lie down. To help alleviate the problem, sleep with one end of your mattress raised. You also might want to avoid late-night snacks and sleep in pajamas that are loose at the waist.

Finally, hormones play a part in stuffy nose issues for women, specifically pregnant and menstruating women. According to Healthline, 39% of pregnant women suffer from some sort of rhinitis that can be reduced by exercise, using breathing strips on the nose, and clearing out the nose with a Neti pot before going to sleep each night.

Those of us who suffer from seasonal allergies and hay fever don't really look forward to spring anyway, but thanks to the onset of the COVID-19 coronavirus, every cough, sneeze, or sniffle has become a reason for us — and those around us — to panic. But doctors like Greg Poland, an infectious diseases professor at the Mayo Clinic and director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, tells CNN that there is a noticeable difference between a seasonal allergy and the coronavirus, particularly if you're experiencing the same symptoms that you do every year. 

"The issue with seasonal allergies is that they affect the nose and eye. They tend to be nasal, and most symptoms are localized to the head, unless you also experience a rash. The flu and the novel coronavirus, these affect other systems and the lower respiratory tract. You probably won't have a runny nose, but what you might have is a sore throat, a cough, a fever or shortness of breath," Poland says. But bear in mind that not all shortness of breath can indicate coronavirus, because while allergies might not normally trigger a shortness of breath, they could if you have asthma.

Dr. Maria Teresa Camacho, the medical director of a pediatric intensive care unit tells CBS that allergy sufferers shouldn't also expect to see their body temperatures go above normal range. "[With] allergies you don't have a fever and usually they are seasonal allergies, you know it's not all the time. You have congestion, but you don't have a fever and body aches," Camacho says.