[Suzy]

Hi,

I am currently experiencing my first brush with insomnia.  I caught a cold (My first in years!) a couple of weeks ago.  I started to have panic attacks through the day as I couldn’t breathe properly and then found that when I tried to sleep I just couldn’t let go and fall asleep in case I woke up fighting to breathe.  All the relaxation exercises focus on breathing which is the very thing I am struggling with!  My cold,thankfully, is now improving and I am beginning to sleep a few hours a night again although I am aware that things are still very far from normal.  I am now terrified I contract another cold/flu as I have not found any answers to how to sleep when full of cold symptoms.  Does anyone else have experience of this or any ideas on how to cope  with sleep when your breathing is affected?  I would love to hear any ideas you have.   Many thanks.   Suzy

[Martin Reed]

Hello Suzy and welcome to the forum. It is completely normal for sleep to be disrupted when you have a cold — the key to preventing the sleep problems becoming entrenched after you get better is to avoid trying to compensate for any lost sleep as you get better.

So, although it’s absolutely fine to get more rest when you are unwell, as you begin to feel better it’s important to try going back to your previous sleep schedule and not trying to change things around to accommodate your sleep. You slept just fine before your cold — and as long as you do nothing in a bit to influence your sleep, you’ll sleep just fine once you’re better.

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