For some reason, cold symptoms always seem to get worse at night.
Turns out, this has to do with your bodys internal alarm clock, aka yourcircadian rhythm.
During the day,cortisol can have an anti-inflammatory effect, which can help alleviate your cold symptoms.
But because theres less cortisol circulating through your body at night, youre more likely to feel lousy.
Plus what you might do to get better rest when sick.
Why cold symptoms feel worse at night
Nope, its not all in your head.
professor and chair of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine
Heres why the nighttime brings out the worst in symptoms when youre dealing with a cold.
This inflammation is what makes respiratory symptomslike congestionworse.
We also know that your circadian rhythm affects the amount of cortisol in your body at night.
Generally,low cortisol levelsin your body can also decrease the anti-inflammatory benefits youll reap.
Postnasal drip and cough
Ever feel like you constantly have to swallow down mucus when youre sick?
This is called apostnasal dripor when excess mucus builds up and drips down the back of your throat.
A postnasal drip can lead to an irritating cough, hoarseness, and an itchy throat.
Gravity is largely to blame for the pesky postnasal drip at night.
During the day (when youre upright), watery mucus will likely drip forward and out your nose.
professor and chair of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine
Headache
When youre sick, you could often get through the day without a hint of a headache.
(Well, you maywake up with a headache, but it subsides throughout the day.)
But as soon as bedtime rolls around, your head starts pounding.
Once again, blame it on inflammation.
When your sinuses are inflamed and swollen,mucus cannot properly drain.
All of it is a recipe for head pressureaka, a sinus headache.
The quiet of the night can also make us more aware of our headaches.
During the day, were often focused on a million other things besides our cold.
At night, though, there are fewer stimuli to distract us from our symptoms, says Dr. Altman.
In other words, its harder to ignore the pounding in your head without all the days activities.
Its Amazing How Its All Connected.
Get plenty of sleep from the start, says Dr. Altman.
He has a method he calls the three-night challenge.
According to Dr. Altman, most people feel way better by the end if they stick to it.
This minor adjustment usually helps us cough less and get back to sleep, he says.
Being dehydrated also makes us feel achier, he adds.
So keep awater bottlehandy and start sipping to help thin your mucus and minimize body aches.
Most importantly, that will allow us to sleep more restfully.
Some of thebest teas to drink when youre sickinclude peppermint, lavender, or ginger.
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