If you are sleep deprived, your body may suffer because your immune system could become weaker. While growing up, it becomes harder and harder to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep every night. Exams, work or a crying baby may keep up longer. Some of us keep browsing the net without realizing how late it is. Some may call sleeping a waste of time, having more important things to do, like meeting deadlines or taking care of their family.
- Researchers developed a new study to prove the effects of the lack of sleep on our immune system.
- The immune system becomes more sensitive and weaker when a person is deprived of sleep.
- Sleep deprivation increases the risk of contracting different sicknesses.
A new study has revealed that being sleep deprived on a regular basis may weaken your immune system. Thus, you are more predisposed to contracting different illnesses. A team of researchers has conducted a study analyzing eleven pairs of identical twins to unveil which is the relation of sleep deprivation and the effects it has on a person’s health.
The study examined identical twins to control the largest factor which influences the sleep duration of humans. Genetics accounted for 31%-50% of the period of sleep while environment and behavior represented the remaining. The study was published on January 25 in Sleep magazine. Scientists have discovered that those twins who got less sleep than his or her sibling had a sensitive and depressed immune system. This increased the risk of developing diseases.
Dr. Nathaniel Watson is the lead author of the study and also the co-director of the University of Washington (UW) Medicine Sleep Center at Harborview Medical Center. He stated that he together with his team proved that the immune system usually functions best if you get seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
The effect of sleep deprivation on the immune system was only measured for a limited amount of time in a lab before the study was completed. Nevertheless, due to this new study, specialists were able to unveil the adverse health effects of chronic sleep impoverishment. Dr. Watson noted that the results of the research proved that people who were deprived of sleep and received a vaccine, their body had a lower antibody response.
What is more, if sleep deprived individuals are exposed to rhinovirus, these people are more likely to contract it. After the results of the experiment, the study also provides more evidence of the effect of sleep on the overall health.
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