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Often when we're sick

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typically what we want to
do is just curl up in bed

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and go to sleep and in part
what we're trying to do

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is sleep ourselves well

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because there's a very
intimate association

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between our sleep health
and our immune health.

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We know that individuals reporting

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less than seven hours of sleep a night

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are almost three times more
likely to become infected

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by the rhinovirus. Otherwise
known as the common cold.

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We also know that women sleeping
five hours or less a night,

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are almost 70% more likely
to develop pneumonia.

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What we've also discovered that sleep

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can play a role in your
successful immunization.

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So in one study they took
a group of individuals

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and they limited them to
four hours of sleep a night

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for six nights. And in the other group,

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they gave them a full night of sleep

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each and every one of those nights.

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And then during that time
period, they gave them a flu shot

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and they measured the
response to that flu shot.

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What they discovered is
that in those individuals

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who were sleeping just four hours a night,

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they went on to produce less than 50%

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of the normal antibody response.

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So in other words, if you're
not getting sufficient sleep

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in the week or the days
before you get your flu shot,

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it may render that
vaccination far less effective

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as a consequence, what this tells us

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and now what we're starting to learn

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is that it's during sleep at night,

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including deep non-REM sleep.

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When we actually restock the weaponry

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within our immune arsenal,

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we actually stimulate the production

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of numerous different immune
factors. And furthermore,

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the body actually
increases its sensitivity

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to those immune factors.

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So you wake up the next day

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as a more robust immune individual.

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So when it comes to your immune system,

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you should perhaps think of sleep

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as one of the best
health insurance policies

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that you could ever wish for.

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