Everyone coughs from time to time. A slight allergy, a little tickle in the throat, even swallowing something wrong can bring on a brief coughing spell.
But if you cough regularly, daily, habitually, there may exist an underlying reason that should be checked by a health professional.
Common causes of coughs
A persistent, habitual cough can disrupt your social life, rob you of energy, even cause interrupted sleep.
While many coughs are more a nuisance caused by irritants—odors, airborne particles, tobacco smoke, sinus drainage or post-nasal drip; some coughs are warning signs.
Chronic coughs
Chronic coughs are those that last for eight weeks or longer.
Persistent coughs from air pollution show a particular sensitivity to air quality. While this is actually a good thing—your lungs are trying to protect themselves—it can become debilitating if your body overreacts to small amount of pollutants in the air. If the cough is persistent, see an allergy specialist. If severe, you may have to wear a protective face mask or nose filters to quell the cough reaction when exposed to higher levels of airborne pollution.
Molds and spores can also be an irritant.
Another cause of coughing is the condition of asthma. This type of cough can be seasonal and is triggered by the quality of the air, the humidity and the temperature. Excessive humidity and extreme cold can aggravate the condition. Sometimes asthma can flare up after a bout with a respiratory tract infection.
If you suffer from a respiratory tract infection your cough can last much longer than normal after a cold or flu or any other type of upper respiratory tract illness has ended. In many cases this is caused by inflamed air passages that cause a cough to linger well after the sickness is gone.
More common than asthma, bronchial infections can last a short time or go on for years. Chronic bronchitis, a low-level, ongoing inflammation of the lungs, causes frequent coughing fits, congestion and mucus.
Worse is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This disease produce excessive mucus; the body reacts by coughing attempting to expel the mucus.
If your physician has you on blood pressure medicine, your persistent cough may be caused by a side effect of the prescription. ACE inhibitors can create chronic coughs among a fifth of the people treated with them.
A cough that goes on weeks or months without abating—or worse, becomes more pronounced—must be attended to by a health professional. A chronic cough is sometimes the only way your body can alert you that something is going wrong.
Paying attention to all your body's warning signs—including coughs—can go a long way to avoiding something treatable from turning into a long-term illness.
Source
"Chronic Cough." Mayo Clinic Staff