WEBVTT 00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:01.880 - Often when we're sick 00:00:01.880 --> 00:00:04.780 typically what we want to do is just curl up in bed 00:00:04.780 --> 00:00:08.350 and go to sleep and in part what we're trying to do 00:00:08.350 --> 00:00:10.230 is sleep ourselves well 00:00:10.230 --> 00:00:13.270 because there's a very intimate association 00:00:13.270 --> 00:00:16.797 between our sleep health and our immune health. 00:00:18.569 --> 00:00:21.500 (soft music) 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:23.600 We know that individuals reporting 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.130 less than seven hours of sleep a night 00:00:26.130 --> 00:00:30.110 are almost three times more likely to become infected 00:00:30.110 --> 00:00:33.660 by the rhinovirus. Otherwise known as the common cold. 00:00:33.660 --> 00:00:38.110 We also know that women sleeping five hours or less a night, 00:00:38.110 --> 00:00:42.300 are almost 70% more likely to develop pneumonia. 00:00:42.300 --> 00:00:44.710 What we've also discovered that sleep 00:00:44.710 --> 00:00:48.450 can play a role in your successful immunization. 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:51.910 So in one study they took a group of individuals 00:00:51.910 --> 00:00:55.760 and they limited them to four hours of sleep a night 00:00:55.760 --> 00:00:57.870 for six nights. And in the other group, 00:00:57.870 --> 00:01:00.210 they gave them a full night of sleep 00:01:00.210 --> 00:01:01.940 each and every one of those nights. 00:01:01.940 --> 00:01:05.900 And then during that time period, they gave them a flu shot 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:09.600 and they measured the response to that flu shot. 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:13.020 What they discovered is that in those individuals 00:01:13.020 --> 00:01:15.280 who were sleeping just four hours a night, 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:19.030 they went on to produce less than 50% 00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:21.400 of the normal antibody response. 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:25.010 So in other words, if you're not getting sufficient sleep 00:01:25.010 --> 00:01:29.060 in the week or the days before you get your flu shot, 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:33.200 it may render that vaccination far less effective 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.830 as a consequence, what this tells us 00:01:35.830 --> 00:01:38.020 and now what we're starting to learn 00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:40.870 is that it's during sleep at night, 00:01:40.870 --> 00:01:43.250 including deep non-REM sleep. 00:01:43.250 --> 00:01:46.910 When we actually restock the weaponry 00:01:46.910 --> 00:01:49.120 within our immune arsenal, 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.980 we actually stimulate the production 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:55.580 of numerous different immune factors. And furthermore, 00:01:55.580 --> 00:01:59.440 the body actually increases its sensitivity 00:01:59.440 --> 00:02:01.210 to those immune factors. 00:02:01.210 --> 00:02:03.380 So you wake up the next day 00:02:03.380 --> 00:02:07.260 as a more robust immune individual. 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:10.210 So when it comes to your immune system, 00:02:10.210 --> 00:02:12.280 you should perhaps think of sleep 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:15.690 as one of the best health insurance policies 00:02:15.690 --> 00:02:17.140 that you could ever wish for. 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:23.016 (soft music)