About a week ago, I spoke with Dan Pastula, chief of neuroinfectious diseases and global neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Colorado School of Public Health, for this very assignment about why upper respiratory infection symptoms like a cough, sore throat, and runny nose, tend to ramp up while you’re trying to sleep. Pastula walked me through all the factors that join forces to make colds feel so much worse at night.