Poor sleep leads to more colds

The LA Times reports on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that found "people who sleep less than seven hours a night appear to be almost three times as likely to catch a cold as those who sleep eight hours or more."

There was a graded association with average sleep duration: participants with less than 7 hours of sleep were 2.94 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18-7.30) more likely to develop a cold than those with 8 hours or more of sleep. The association with sleep efficiency was also graded: participants with less than 92% efficiency were 5.50 times (95% CI, 2.08-14.48) more likely to develop a cold than those with 98% or more efficiency. These relationships could not be explained by differences in prechallenge virus-specific antibody titers, demographics, season of the year, body mass, socioeconomic status, psychological variables, or health practices. The percentage of days feeling rested was not associated with colds.

Conclusion Poorer sleep efficiency and shorter sleep duration in the weeks preceding exposure to a rhinovirus were associated with lower resistance to illness.

Fighting a cold? Every bit of sleep counts

[#1 posted by ablestmage , January 19, 2009 11:51 AM]

What if I get 7.85 hours? Only 1.238x as likely?

[#2 posted by AirPillo , January 19, 2009 11:55 AM]

#1:

I hate and love you.

[#3 posted by kiltreiser , January 19, 2009 11:59 AM]

I used to get colds non-stop every winter and I hardly ever slept. I still sleep very badly but I haven't had a single cold this year. All that's changed is I now exercise regularly and sorted my diet out. Not disputing the findings at all, just saying there are other simple things you can do to avoid illness...

[#4 posted by Antinous / Moderator , January 19, 2009 12:06 PM]

"Experts at five universities found that people who drank more than two glasses of red wine a day had 44% fewer colds than teetotallers."

It's a fact.

[#5 posted by Daemon , January 19, 2009 12:18 PM]

I have only very rarely had 8 hours of sleep in something like 15 years... I almost never get sick, and when I do it's really mild compared to the symptoms everybody else around me has.

[#6 posted by Bob Doles Communist Doppelganger , January 19, 2009 12:40 PM]

I know anecdotal evidence is of little use in science, but I've noticed this myself. Nearly every time I've gotten a cold (which is less often than most people), it happens immediately after one or more nights of reduced sleep.

Nice to see that I wasn't just seeing patterns for pattern-seeing's sake.

[#7 posted by Anonymous , January 19, 2009 12:52 PM]

See? Your mom was right -- if you don't get some rest, you'll get sick.

#6 -- I offer my whole family up as anecdotal evidence -- when we're running in circles, under stress, and staying up late/getting up early, I can almost guarantee someone will end up flat on their back with a nasty cold.

And I get to stay home and take care of them and their snotty noses. Yay me.

[#8 posted by funlauren , January 19, 2009 1:15 PM]

Back when I was a student I noticed this ALL the time. Basically a couple of all-nighters would guarantee I'd get sick. Now that I have much better sleep patterns I almost never do.

[#9 posted by Anonymous , January 19, 2009 2:29 PM]

I've had 1 cold in the past 3 years.

I've had perhaps 30 nights' sleep of longer than 7 hours in that time.

[#10 posted by Richard Steven Hack , January 19, 2009 4:59 PM]

Thanks a lot for this tip - TOO LATE!

I've had lousy sleep for several days now - and today I woke up with a cold which came on hard and fast.

Try to be more timely, BoingBoing!

[#11 posted by Anonymous , January 19, 2009 6:04 PM]

I work a 7 week shift pattern, including two lots of days (8am - 4pm) of evenings (4pm - midnight) and one 7 day night shift, including 12 hour shifts at the weekend.
After the night shift I always seem to be more prone to colds & sore throats. I started a new running program, but exercise is also reported to lower the immune system so I've been hit doubly hard this year (currently ill in bed). I'd come off shift, but I need the 50% extra shift money in my wage packet.

[#12 posted by Tavie , January 19, 2009 9:26 PM]

I rarely get more than 7 hours a night, and I rarely get colds.

Grouchy and miserable, but few colds. Maybe one a year.

Can we have an open insomnia-tips thread?

[#13 posted by normd , January 19, 2009 11:21 PM]

in an ideal world, I would get 8 hours of sleep every night. I am afraid my current lifestyle includes at least a few hours a day of doing things that are sub-optimal, so in order to make sure my life includes the important things (like adding worthless comments to posts on BB) I need to cut out some sleep.

The cold that made me miserable last week came on after 3 nights in a row of 6 hours slumber.