Can a Lack of Sleep Increase Your Chances of Catching a Cold?
Our parents have always told us to get eight hours of sleep. But is that really true? Well here is an interesting study published in the January edition of Archives of Internal Medicine that looks to answer this very question.
The researchers at Carnegie Mellon University looked at 153 healthy men and women between the ages of 21-55, with a mean age of 37. They asked the participants to record how many hours they slept at night, what percent of their time in bed was spent asleep (known as sleep efficiency) and whether they felt rested. After two weeks, the researchers exposed the participants to nasal drops containing rhinovirus. As you might already know, rhinovirus is the most frequently cited virus causing the common cold.
After the exposure, the researchers monitored the participants for five days to see if they developed symptoms of the common cold. The results were quite interesting to say the least: Participants who slept less than seven hours of sleep were 2.94 times more likely to develop symptoms of the common cold than those who slept eight hours or more. Furthermore, participants with less than 92% sleep efficiency (95% CI, 2.08-14.48) were more than 5.5 times more likely to develop a cold than those with 98% or more efficiency.
The authors’ explanation was “that sleep disturbance influences the regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, histamines and other symptom mediators that are released in response to infection.” In experimental animal models, sleep deprivation has been shown to decrease natural killer cell activity, interleukin-2 production and increase levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines. Thus, sleep deprivation may weaken the immune system.
Now keep in mind that this is a very small study with lots of biases. The biggest being self-reporting. However, the results are interesting and for those who can get it, eight hours of sleep may be a good thing. Maybe our parents were right after all!
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Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, known as an upper respiratory virus or commonly called the cold, is a contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by rhinoviruses (picornaviruses) or coronaviruses. It is the most common infectious disease in humans there is no known cure, but it is rarely fatal.
Thanks for the great article!!
Michael T
New Sleep Drugs
Yes I have tried Ambien, Lunesta, and have found them to be a bad choice for me. They build tolerance fairly quickly and are addictive in my case meaning if I don't take them then no sleep that night. So I will not be using them again.
I have setup a regular routine before bed and am able to get to sleep fairly easily but as mentioned its the quality of sleep and then starting to wake in the wee hours, that seems to be where I lose the last few hours of quality each night. When I did a sleep study in the past everything helped with the getting to sleep part but not staying asleep well past the 5-6 hours mark.
I will do some added research into this timeframe issue and see what I can find.
Best,
Rob W
Sleep Efficiency
Hello Dr. Sean, I have had trouble sleeping for about 20 year, I have had thyroid test, sleep studies, tried homeopathic remedies, melatonin, valerian root, relaxation techniques, and more. Some work fair but overall everything seems to treat the symptoms but nothing can be considered a cure.
I probably average about 5-6 hours of sleep a night with little or no sleep about once per week. Relating to efficiency of sleep I seem to get good sleep early in the night but as morning approached I seem to rest near the surface of sleep, definitely not REM or deep sleep. What do you feel or have you hear can help improve the quality of my sleep even if its only 5-6 hours?
I know a large amount of the population suffers like I do from sleep issues and each person has different symptoms or cures. Since I have been living with lack of sleep for year I am at peace with my situation but would love to get more quality sleep if not quantity.
Thanks for any feedback you may have.
Rob W
Hi Rob First of all, you are
Hi Rob
First of all, you are not alone. If you have truly tried all the above treatments then I would highly recommend visiting a Pulmonary physician boarded in Sleep medicine. They will do a sleep study that can sometimes help to find underlying problems. Also, they will be able to help you setup routines that can improve you sleeping habits. There are a lot of new drugs on the market for sleep but I am afraid the majority of them can be habit forming.
"The greatest hindrance to creativity is a formula!"
-Dr. Sean Hashmi, M.D, M.S
Internal Medicine/Nephrology
www.drseanhashmi.com
Great article!
Thank you Doctor H!
I always enjoy your findings, and you are always great at pointing out that the research is never 'Fact' but that it is still nonetheless a worthwhile read and that the findings may help support commonly accepted ideas that were never really proven. I've always been an advocate of getting proper sleep, and that has simply been because of my own experiments [self-monitoring] in energy levels, mental awareness and overall wellbeing after adequate and inadequate sleep cycles.
One thing I have noticed is that if I only sleep for around 3-4 hours [and no more] I have a short-term 'refreshed' feeling, but then I crash later in the day, and if i get the full sleep amount I feel refreshed the entire day. One of the days I want to research sleep cycles and see if these patterns that I am finding out about myself dont coincide with the different stages of sleep.
"Obsession is a term the lazy use to describe the dedicated" - Anon.
"Shoot for the stars, you might just reach the sky" - Unknown
You get REM sleep every 90
You get REM sleep every 90 minutes so I am not surprised u feel better after a full nights rest. The more REM the better.
As always, its not quantity but quality that matters far more.
"The greatest hindrance to creativity is a formula!"
-Dr. Sean Hashmi, M.D, M.S
Internal Medicine/Nephrology
www.drseanhashmi.com