Why do we seem to get sick at night?

[allgimpedup84]

Hello Dr. Steve,

Your show last weekend was most entertaining, as usual. My question is, why does sickness usually come on overnight? When I get sick I go to bed feeling fine, but then I wake up in the middle of the night, or the next morning, and I'm sick. This just happened this past week (I'm feeling better now), and Googling didn't get me anywhere. Thanks in advance.

Dan

[Dr Steve]

Hello Dr. Steve,

Your show last weekend was most entertaining, as usual. My question is, why does sickness usually come on overnight? When I get sick I go to bed feeling fine, but then I wake up in the middle of the night, or the next morning, and I'm sick. This just happened this past week (I'm feeling better now), and Googling didn't get me anywhere. Thanks in advance.

Dan

I have a theory on this, but I can't prove it in the medical literature.

Either:

1) we just don't notice we're getting sick when we're doing stuff during the day and then at night, when we have fewer distracting stimuli, we notice the virus or whatever kicking in

or

2) the diurnal rhythm of hormones like cortisol (a stress hormone) causes us to be more susceptible to symptoms late at night

or

3) it's just an illusion...you just remember those times because they seemed unusual, but you actually get sick at all different random times of the day but your brain sees a "pattern" where none exists.

I looked this crap up at the medical library and could find nothing conclusive. I suspect it's one of the above, though.

sorry!


your pal,


steve

[boosterp]

I would also say that some who sleep with their mouth open tend to feel sick in the morning. There are several reasons for this but the two most prominent ones are that cool air enters your throat instead of getting warmed up through your nose and sinuses. The cool air irritates the throat and the mucosal lining of your upper respiratory tract. Second is that as you sleep, you are not active as in physically. This may be (I can't prove) causing your immune system to weaken for the moment making it susceptible to viruses. This goes along with Steve's cortisol thoughts/