Mother knows best – at least it appears that way when it comes to lack of sleep. It turns out that lack of sleep really may make us more prone to catching colds and the flu. And that includes the H1N1 virus.
“It is an old wives’ tale that if you don’t sleep well, you will get sick, and there is some experimental data that shows this is true,” says Diwaker Balachandran, MD, director of the Sleep Centre at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston.
Some 50 million to 70 million American adults suffer from sleep disorders or the inability to stay awake and alert, according to the CDC. Though it’s not always easy to do, getting adequate sleep can help keep our immune systems primed for attack.
Sleep and Immunity: Understanding the Link
Not getting enough sleep has been linked to a laundry list of mental and physical health problems, including those that stem from an impaired immune system. Our immune system is designed to protect us from colds, flu, and other ailments, but when it is not functioning properly, it fails to do its job. The consequences can include more sick days.
The relationship between lack of sleep and our immune systems is not quite as straightforward as mom made it out to be, however. The immune system is pretty complex. It is made up of several types of cells and proteins that are charged with keeping foreign invaders such as colds or flu at bay.
“A lot of studies show our T-cells go down if we are sleep deprived,” Balachandran says. “And inflammatory cytokines go up. This could potentially lead to the greater risk of developing a cold or flu.”
In simple terms, sleep deprivation suppresses immune systems function. Or, as Balachandran puts it, “The more all-nighters you pull, the more likely you are to decrease your body’s ability to respond to colds or bacterial infections.”
Lack of Sleep and Fevers
Sleep loss not only plays a role in whether we come down with a cold or flu. It also influences how we fight illnesses once we come down with them.
For example, our bodies fight infection with fevers. “One of the things that happens when we sleep is that we get a better fever response,” Balachandra says. This is why fevers tend to rise at night. But if we are not sleeping, our fever reaction is not primed, so we may not be waging war on infection as best we can.”
Lack of Sleep and Vaccines
Studies have shown that people who are sleep deprived also get less protection from flu vaccines than those who are getting adequate sleep, Balachandran says.
John Park, MD, a pulmonologist who specializes in sleep medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rocherster, Minn., agrees. “We know that our immune response is suppressed when we are sleep deprived and that we develop less antibodies to certain vaccine if we are sleep-deprived,” Park says. “It takes longer for our body to respond to immunizations, so if we are exposed to a flu virus, we may be more likely to get sick than if we are well rested when vaccinated.”
