A cough is a reflex action to a foreign invader of your respiratory tract, like dust. Under such circumstances, a cough can usually be dismissed. However, when a cough follows an infection, is persistent, or even occurs every time you take a deep breath, it might require more attention.

While it may not be something serious, there are diseases and other conditions that could elicit a cough during deep inhalation. This becomes especially important if your cough is chronic: that is, lasting for more than eight weeks. 

If you regularly cough after taking a deep breath, it is essential to have your physician take a look. 

What Happens When I Take A Deep Breath?

Your respiratory tract looks like a tree with the trachea and windpipe forming the base or initial parts of this tree. This is where the air moves into your lungs. This then divides into the branches which are the bronchi and bronchioles and finally into air sacs or alveoli. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place within these air sacs, which are intricately lined with blood vessels.

An essential part of the respiratory tract for breathing is the diaphragm and chest muscles. When you take a breath, your diaphragm muscle contracts and moves downwards, allowing your lungs to fill with air. Exhaling, conversely, involves the relaxation of the diaphragm, moving it upwards and pushing the air out.

During a deep breath, you are more actively controlling the movement of your diaphragm and are more mindful of the way air moves in and out of your lungs. You are also more aware of the movement of your ribs and related muscles as they move laterally and downward during deep inhalation and in the opposite direction when you exhale. 

Several benefits have been associated with deep breathing, including better exchange of gases, reduction of stress, lowering of heart rate, and decrease in blood pressure¹.

However, sometimes the way you take a deep breath might evoke a cough, due to the sudden rush of air, improper posture, or inhaling irritants. If you cough frequently or almost every time you take a deep breath, it requires further investigation.

What Are The Reasons Deep Breathing Makes Me Cough?

Coughing frequently after you take a deep breath can be linked to an underlying health and commonly a respiratory condition. The top ten possible health causes for coughing after a deep breath can include²: 

1. Having a cold, flu, or another respiratory infection like pneumonia
2. Acute bronchitis
3. Asthma
4. Allergies
5. Smoker’s cough
6. Postnasal drip – now also called upper airway cough syndrome
7. Sinusitis or rhinitis
8. Lung or respiratory tract cancer
9. Heart failure
10. Gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD)

For each of these causes, cough can come along at any point. Coughing with a deep breath may be one of the signs indicating further investigation is required into any of these causes. 

In each of these cases, the constant irritation of the cough centers within your respiratory tract from an infection, consistent postnasal drip, or even reflux of gastric acid, triggers the cough reflex. There are cough centers present in the bronchial tree, and other areas such as the ear, sinuses around the nose, pleura (the membrane surrounding the lungs), diaphragm, pericardium (the sac containing the heart), and esophagus (food pipe)³.

For the causes listed above, other symptoms may also be documented along with a cough, such as fever, chest discomfort, sputum/mucus production, enlarged lymph nodes, and even weight loss. 

A Dry Cough After a Deep Breath 

A dry cough after a deep breath without any other associated symptoms can present a significant dilemma in narrowing down a cause. This is more so if the cough has lasted for more than eight weeks; globally, chronic cough has a 10% prevalence and has been documented as a leading contributor to negative quality of life⁴. For many cases of chronic cough, sourcing a cause may not always be easy. 

For example, heightened sensitivity in the nerves of cough receptors can be linked to an idiopathic cough⁵ – that is, a cough without any noticeable stimuli. Thermal, mechanical, or chemical exposure can be associated with idiopathic cough. In such cases, patients may record incidents of being stressed, talking or singing too much, or even inhaling cold air as an inciting cause for the coughing spell⁶.

Studies have also indicated that taking a deep breath in itself can elicit a cough. This has been hypothesized to be due to the same increased sensitivity in cough center or cough receptor nerves as cough hypersensitivity⁷. Therefore, simply the difference in temperature between the inside of the body and the air breathed in can be enough to trigger a cough.

When Should I Seek Medical Help?

As soon as you notice a frequent cough every time you take a deep breath, consider checking in with a doctor. During the first few episodes, it would also be ideal to start tracking your cough and any associated symptoms.

Most coughs should subside on their own in a few days to a week with simple supportive care and over-the-counter anti-cough medicine. However, when it does not and either persists or worsens, seek medical assistance.

During your medical visit, your doctor will ask you pertinent questions related to any potential exposure to infection, recent travel history, and any medications you are taking (drugs like ACE inhibitors are possible causes for recent onset cough)⁸.

Your doctor will do routine checkups such as listening to your chest and documenting your temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation. Based on these and any other symptoms you report, plus how long your cough has lasted, they will recommend specific diagnostic tests to source out a cause for your cough.

Following your diagnosis, your doctor can recommend treatment based on the underlying causes. Some cases, when there is no underlying cause that we can find, benefit from alternative treatment options such as behavioral cough suppression therapy⁹.

Bottom Line

On some occasions taking a deep breath may elicit a cough due to the inhalation of a foreign irritant. However, such episodes ideally subside on their own. 

Frequent episodes of coughing following a deep breath require medical attention. Infection, lung conditions, cancer, and even neurological hypersensitivity of the cough centers can be responsible for coughing following deep inhalation. When coupled with other symptoms it should prompt diagnostic investigation to be able to narrow down a possible cause. 

Early diagnosis can help prevent cough progression and also improve quality of life, especially among chronic coughers.

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6. Song, W. J., & Morice, A. H. (2017). Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome: A Few More Steps Forward. Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research, 9(5), 394–402. https://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2017.9.5.394[↩]
7. Koskela, H. O., Nurmi, H. M., & Song, W. J. (2021). Deep Inspiration-Provoked Cough: A Sign of Cough Reflex Arc Hypersensitivity. Lung, 199(5), 501–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-021-00476-0[↩]
8. Shim, J. S., Song, W. J., & Morice, A. H. (2020). Drug-Induced Cough. Physiological Research, 69(Suppl 1), S81–S92. https://doi.org/10.33549/physiolres.934406[↩]
9. Chamberlain, S., Garrod, R., & Birring, S. S. (2013). Cough suppression therapy: does it work? Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics, 26(5), 524–527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pupt.2013.03.012[↩]

Dr. Michelle Frank

Michelle is a healthcare consultant and content creator with over six years of experience in the FemTech space. She contributes extensively to health forums, especially those centered on enabling wellness, advancing digital health, and FemTech solutions. She loves classic rock music, reading classic literature, and finding new spots in town for good food and some chai.