4. Waking Up with a Headache
COPD affects your quality of life and reduces the efficiency of normal biological functions, such as sleeping. Many people suffering from COPD mention that they wake up in the morning with a headache.
This sign of COPD deserves your immediate attention. The reason for a headache comes from your lung’s inability to absorb oxygen efficiently as you sleep. When starved of oxygen, the brain is unable to complete vital processes, such as clearing the toxins accumulated in neural pathways during the day. The impaired gaseous exchange in the lungs means that your body cannot remove CO2 efficiently.
As a result of the drop in your lung’s efficiency at processing air, you end up with a morning headache. Individuals experiencing this symptom require oxygen overnight. A C-PAP machine or oxygen tank helps to remedy the situation.
Waking up lightheaded is another symptom of COPD caused by the same issue of the lungs not receiving the air they need to enrich the blood with oxygen.