Many people suspect it, but now it also shows an investigation: if you sleep too little, you are more sensitive to infections such as a cold. A study among Norwegian nurses has confirmed a connection between lack of sleep and diseases.
1335 nurses and nurses in Norway were interviewed for the study published in the magazine “Chronobiology International”. They reported how much they sleep, which lay they worked and how often they have had certain infectious diseases in recent months.
The result was that if the nursing staff slept too little for a maximum of two hours, the risk of a cold increased by a third. If the sleep deprivation was more than two hours, they would have a cold more often. The risk of bronchitis, sinus inflammation and a gastrointestinal infection was also increased.
Lack of sleep and shift weakens the immune system
“Lack of sleep and irregular shift, including night work, not only influence the immune system of the nurses and the nurse, but can also be able to do their ability to provide high quality patient care,” said the most important author Siri Wagon of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen. That is why something must be done to protect them against infectious diseases.
However, the research team does not write, it cannot be said whether a sleep deprivation really causes infections or whether it is more of the infections that lead to a sleep deprivation.
Sleeping is good for the immune system
However, other studies can help you answer this question, says Luciana Bedovsky, who is researching the relationship between sleep and immune system in the LMU Munich. So her team invited young, healthy test subjects to the sleep laboratory and let sleep or wake up for more than 24 hours – and then measured immunameter.
“In these studies we think that sleep influences different immune parameters,” says Bedovsky. “When you sleep, you release different hormones, such as the growth hormone,” says the sleep researcher. These hormones also had a positive effect on the immune system. “That was investigated relatively well.”
Source: Krone
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