Cold and cough symptoms often feel worse at night. You aren't just imagining it. This is due to your body's circadian rhythms, hormones, body position, and lack of distraction at night. A cough that happens mainly at night can be caused by asthma, reflux, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or sinusitis.
Your Immune System Is Working Overtime
The inflammatory response makes congestion and headache symptoms worse, and if you have a virus, the immune system will raise your body temperature more so at night in an attempt to kill it.
At night, there is less cortisol in your blood. As a result, your white blood cells readily detect and fight infections in your body at this time, provoking the symptoms of the infection to surface, such as fever, congestion, chills, or sweating. Therefore, you feel sicker during the night.
At night, the body's immune system kicks into high gear to fight infections, and it can cause fevers or chills. "Our body is designed to work like that overnight," Ikeman said. "That part of the day when we're resting, we're repairing everything." And, finally some of the differences could be psychological.
Extra rest can help with recovery from illness, whether you have a cold, the flu, or another virus. Here's how sleep helps your immune system bounce back when you're sick. No matter the specific virus, nearly every sickness has one recommended treatment in common: lots of rest.
Days 3 to 5: Cough and More Nasal Congestion
Nasal symptoms continue to develop, peaking during the third and fourth days. You may notice that mucus from your runny nose has become thicker, with a yellow or green tinge.
The worst day of the common cold is often day two or three. That's when symptoms peak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms peak: Cold symptoms peak at 1 to 3 days. The main symptoms include sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, cough, discomfort, sneezing, fever (more common in children), headaches, clear, watery discharge from your nose (mucus), and body aches.
The stages of a cold include the incubation period, appearance of symptoms, remission, and recovery. The common cold is a mild upper respiratory infection caused by viruses.
A few hours of bed rest can do wonders for your body. Drink plenty of hot fluids: Hot drinks or a cup of hot herbal tea can make you feel better. Hot liquids may relieve your nasal congestion, prevent dehydration and soothe discomfort due to a sore throat. Try sipping herbal tea, lemon water, or warm broth.
Cold and flu symptoms such as a blocked nose or cough usually subside after 7-10 days and the absence of these things is quite an obvious indication that you are on the mend.
Sleep on Your Side
Sleeping on your side helps drain mucus, eases congestion, and assists with digestion. It also helps prevent snoring, which often worsens when you have a cold or the flu. Sleeping with your head raised will open your airways, making breathing easier and minimizing mucus accumulation.
You can spread the common cold from a few days before your symptoms appear until all of the symptoms are gone. Most people will be contagious for up to 2 weeks. Symptoms are usually worse during the first 2 to 3 days, and this is when you're most likely to spread the virus.
Days 4-6. Common cold symptoms mean that, because of your snotty situation, come days four to six you may also develop a mild cough. Due to inflammation around the airways, the cough may persist after your other symptoms are long gone.
If you've had cold symptoms for 10 days or fewer and you've been fever-free for 24 hours, you're probably safe to go to work. Keep your tissues, over-the-counter remedies, and hand sanitizer close by, and try to remember that even though you're miserable now, you'll likely feel better in a few days.
DAY 4 to 7:
In the peak stage of a cold, your symptoms may reach their maximum intensity, resulting in effects such as a runny nose, cough, sinus/nasal congestion, body aches, headache and fatigue. In some, cases, this may also lead to a fever.
During sickness, cells are under stress, and organisms experience sleepiness to promote sleep and recover from the cellular stress.
Mild to moderate physical activity is usually OK if you have a common cold and no fever. Exercise may even help you feel better by opening your nasal passages and temporarily relieving nasal congestion.
Struggling with the stomach flu
Sleep on your side with your head elevated: If you find yourself vomiting a lot, then sleep on your side with your head elevated.