A recent study discovered that a sleep-deprived individual’s body may have limited results from immunization. Sleeping less than six hours the night before having a vaccination shot (for Covid or flu) lowers protection against the virus or disease-causing microbe, according to the study.
Good sleep not only amplifies but may also extend the duration of vaccine protection
“Good sleep not only amplifies but may also extend the duration of vaccine protection,” senior author Eve Van Cauter, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, stated in an official release. The study did note, however, that the effect of insufficient sleep on immunological response to a vaccine is clinically important in men.
“Research that used objective measures of sleep deprivation, such as that of a sleep lab, found a decrease in the ability to respond to the vaccine that was particularly and statistically significant in males, but not females,” study’s co-author Dr. Michael Irwin, distinguished professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, was quoted as saying by CNN.
The study did not include an analysis of antibody response to Covid vaccines due to a lack of adequate studies
According to experts, women generally have higher immune responses to immunizations due to hormonal, genetic, and environmental differences. The new study, published Monday in the journal Current Biology, conducted a meta-analysis of previous data on sleep and immune function after influenza A and Hepatitis A and B vaccination. When the study included measures such as asking participants to visit a sleep lab, they discovered a “strong” connection of less-than-optimal immunity following vaccination.
The study did not include an analysis of antibody response to Covid vaccines due to a lack of adequate studies on sleep in Covid-vaccinated people. “How we stimulate the immune system is the same whether we are using an mRNA vaccine for Covid-19, or influenza, hepatitis, typhoid or pneumococcal vaccine,” Irwin said. “It’s a prototypical antibody or vaccine response, and that’s why we believe we can generalize to Covid,” Dr. Irwin said.
