Health
Lack of sleep linked to cold resistance
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 26, 2009
Adults who sleep less than seven hours a night or whose sleep is of poor quality are at higher risk of getting sick after exposure to a cold virus, according to a study in the Jan. 12 Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh recorded the sleep duration and efficiency for 153 people over a two-week period. Participants were then quarantined, exposed to the rhinovirus and observed for the development of illness. Those who slept less than seven hours a night nearly tripled their risk of coming down with a cold in comparison to those who got more than eight hours of shut-eye. Those who didn't sleep well were 5½ times more at risk.
The authors suspect that a lack of sleep may affect various body functions that control infectious agents.
"A possible explanation for this finding is that sleep disturbance influenced the regulation of proinflammatory cytokines, histamines and other symptom mediators that are released in response to infection," the authors wrote.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/01/26/hlbf0126.htm.
