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Sleep and immunity: why short sleep raises your risk of colds

Updated Six Habits Editorial Team
The short answerSleep supports the immune system. In an experiment in which volunteers were deliberately exposed to a cold virus, people who slept less than 6 hours were 4.2 times more likely to get sick than those who slept more than 7. In another study, sleep restriction before a flu shot reduced antibody production.

Key points

What the research shows

Cold virus exposure. In a study at Carnegie Mellon University, 164 healthy adults wore sleep trackers for a week and were then given nasal drops containing a cold virus. Those who had slept less than 6 hours a night were 4.2 times more likely to develop a cold than those who had slept more than 7 hours, and those who slept less than 5 hours were 4.5 times more likely (Prather et al., 2015).

Vaccines. Other studies have found that sleep restriction around vaccination reduces antibody production.

Shift work. Circadian disruption from shift work is linked to a range of health problems (Kecklund & Axelsson, 2016).

How to support immunity with sleep

Frequently asked questions

Should I get extra sleep around my flu shot?

It makes sense to get a good night’s sleep in the days before and after vaccination, though the vaccine still works if you have not.

Can napping help when I am sick?

Yes. Rest and extra sleep support recovery.

Sources

  1. Prather et al. (2015). Behaviorally Assessed Sleep and Susceptibility to the Common Cold. Sleep 38(9):1353-1359. doi:10.5665/sleep.4968
  2. Watson et al. (2015). Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult: A Joint Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. SLEEP. doi:10.5665/sleep.4716
  3. Kecklund et al. (2016). Health consequences of shift work and insufficient sleep. BMJ :i5210. doi:10.1136/bmj.i5210

Prepared according to our evidence methodology and the principles of lifestyle medicine. For education only; it does not replace advice from your doctor.

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