A study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University and published in the Jan. 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine is the first to show that getting less than seven to eight hours of "solid" sleep a night can lower resistance to the common cold virus. Findings demonstrated that with less than seven hours of sleep a night, you are three times more likely to catch a cold, and if you sleep poorly, you are up to five times more susceptible to the cold virus.
Psychology professor and lead author Sheldon Cohen stated that "longer sleep duration and better sleep efficiency are both associated with greater resistance to the common cold," and further related that the immune system's ability to fight off infectious disease may in part be influenced by regular sleep habits.
In fact, earlier studies have shown both that sleep deprivation impairs some immune function and that people who sleep seven to eight hours a night have the lowest rates of heart disease and death.
This current study collected data on 153 men and women from 2000 to 2004. Participants were given nose drops containing a common cold virus, and follow-ups included reports of signs and symptoms of a cold, the collecting of mucus samples to test for the virus, and the testing of participants' blood samples for antibodies to the virus.
The findings were that those who slept less than seven hours a night were 2.94 times more likely to develop a cold, and for those with trouble getting to sleep or who wake up in the middle of the night, that they are more than five times more likely to get a cold when exposed to a virus.
The study highlights the importance of sleep in maintaining good health, and that good sleep should be a priority of health-conscious people.
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