Nosebleeds, in many occasions causes people to overreact. This is indeed frightening and scary, as it often occurs without any specific reasons. In addition, this issue is also undergone by both children and adults, which can be shocking for most parents. The good news is, however, despite the scary impression it brings, nosebleeds are most of the time not serious and can even be self-treated. Knowing more about nosebleeds can be helpful in dealing with this dramatic health issue.

Who are prone to nosebleeds?

Nosebleeds is very common and may affect almost anyone, including children and adults. However, some people with certain criteria have a higher risk of getting nosebleeds. Those people are:

• Children around 10 years old.
• Elderly people who have reached their 60 or 70.
• Expectant mothers.
• People with certain medications, especially aspirin and anticoagulants.
• People with blood clotting disorders.

Causes of nosebleeds in the night

There are some risk factors of nosebleeds and most of them are related to the blood vessels inside the nose lining. Some people also report their experience of having nosebleeds in the middle of the night without they are fully noticing. Some general causes of nosebleeds include:

• Picking the nose

Excessive and frequent nose picking might involve unnecessary scratches between the fingers and nose lining. This may cause the nose lining to bleed, although in most nose picking cases, the bleeding is not excessive and serious. Picking the nose using sharp fingernails elevates this risk.

• Blowing the nose too hard

As blowing the nose too hard may lead to nosebleeds, this issue is common with severe influenza. Blowing the nose too hard will affect the tiny blood vessels inside it, so that blood will be visible.

• A minor injury to the nose

Cuts, cracks, and scratches are common with nose lining. These injuries influence the risk of nosebleed which is common with any kind of nose injury.

As with nosebleeds which occur in the middle of the night, it causes many people to freak out, as they did not notice any strange things with the nose, yet finding some blood on the pillow in the next morning. Despite the amount of blood which can be excreted, midnight nosebleeds are classified as not serious issue which can be treated similarly to any other kinds of nosebleeds.

• Nosebleeds which occur in the middle of the night are mostly caused by changes in humidity or temperature in the bedroom, especially when room heater is activated during winter. When you begin to sleep, the temperature of the room might still be quite low in the winter. However, this temperature elevates when the heater in involved. At some time during the night, the temperature change becomes extreme, causing your nose lining to become too dry. When this happens, the lining can easily crack and thus, bleed, causing what you see in the morning as splattered blood around the pillow during the night sleep.

Preventing nosebleeds

Although almost never causes life-threatening condition, nosebleeds can definitely cause panicking and overreactions, especially for the parents whose children suffering from the issue. To prevent nosebleeds you can do several things, such as:

• Avoid picking the nose too frequently. Keep your fingernail short to prevent incidental cuts when picking the nose. Wash your hands before and after picking the nose to prevent bacterial transmitting.
• Do not blow the nose too hard. Blow it gently and not too frequently.
• Keep your house humidified. In the winter, when you have to turn on the heater at night, apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly to the nose lining before sleeping. This will prevent the lining of the nose from being over dry. Hence, cracking and bleeding can be avoided.
• Check to the doctor if you experience nosebleeds very often and when nosebleeds are coming back.
• Immediately treat allergic reactions, as failing to do this will cause inflammation to the nose lining. As a result, bleeding might likely to occur.
• If you are on blood-thinning medications, be aware to the condition of the nose lining, as light bleeding might trigger more severe one, since your blood might not be able to clot quickly.