It is confirmed ... Less sleep, more colds
By DR. KAREN LATIMER
Common sense and personal experience have long told us lack of sleep can lead to health problems. With autumn on the horizon, we can expect brighter colors and cooler breezes. Unfortunately those cooler breezes can carry the cold virus, ruining a beautiful season with runny noses, headaches and missed school and work. I know I am a set up for illness when I am too busy to sleep. It is also when I am too busy to sleep that I am too busy to get a cold. I should know better, but common sense hasn't done much to force me to bed earlier. Americans are suffering from chronic sleep deprivation.
Now, there is scientific proof about just how much more susceptible you are to the common cold when you aren't sleeping well. Maybe actual evidence will help remind us of the importance of rest for our health.
In a study published in the journal Sleep, researchers looked at 164 adults. They performed two months of health screenings and interviews to establish baselines for stress, behaviors such as alcohol consumption, and personality. They then recorded their sleep patterns for a week and then, get this, they stuck the cold virus up their nose! I know! Hopefully they got paid.
The people who slept less than six hours a night were 4.2 times more likely to actually catch the cold. Age, stress, lifestyle, etc. didn't matter nearly as much as good old shut eye. Next time you are fighting sleep because you are working, binge-watching Game of Thrones or having too much fun, try to remember the last time you had a cold. I am sure it was really inconvenient and debilitating. So for your health, at least until someone finds a cure for the common cold, get to bed.
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