The goal of a study published in the Journal of General and Family Medicine was to identify the nature of mild short-term insomnia (MSTI) as a symptom in common cold and examine the relationship between the diagnosis of common cold and MSTI.

This was a cross-sectional study, conducted at a clinic in Nagano, Japan. The study, enrolled 32 participants as common cold patients and 30 individuals without common cold were selected as the control group.

It was found that 75% of patients in the common cold group and 33% of total patients in the not common cold group reported MSTI. The prevalence of MSTI was significantly more frequent in patients with common cold. MSTI occurred on an average of one day before the common cold onset and continued for a mean of two days. Furthermore, the frequency of fever was related to age, but MSTI appeared regardless of age.

From the results, it was inferred that mild short-term insomnia is a usual symptom in common cold.

Source: Journal of General and Family Medicine. 2019 Sep 12;20(6):244-250.