- Often when we're sick
typically what we want to
do is just curl up in bed
and go to sleep and in part
what we're trying to do
is sleep ourselves well
because there's a very
intimate association
between our sleep health
and our immune health.
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We know that individuals reporting
less than seven hours of sleep a night
are almost three times more
likely to become infected
by the rhinovirus. Otherwise
known as the common cold.
We also know that women sleeping
five hours or less a night,
are almost 70% more likely
to develop pneumonia.
What we've also discovered that sleep
can play a role in your
successful immunization.
So in one study they took
a group of individuals
and they limited them to
four hours of sleep a night
for six nights. And in the other group,
they gave them a full night of sleep
each and every one of those nights.
And then during that time
period, they gave them a flu shot
and they measured the
response to that flu shot.
What they discovered is
that in those individuals
who were sleeping just four hours a night,
they went on to produce less than 50%
of the normal antibody response.
So in other words, if you're
not getting sufficient sleep
in the week or the days
before you get your flu shot,
it may render that
vaccination far less effective
as a consequence, what this tells us
and now what we're starting to learn
is that it's during sleep at night,
including deep non-REM sleep.
When we actually restock the weaponry
within our immune arsenal,
we actually stimulate the production
of numerous different immune
factors. And furthermore,
the body actually
increases its sensitivity
to those immune factors.
So you wake up the next day
as a more robust immune individual.
So when it comes to your immune system,
you should perhaps think of sleep
as one of the best
health insurance policies
that you could ever wish for.
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