Sleep helps fight colds: study

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Those who are fond of sleeping, will likely love the results of a recently-published study in the journal Sleep. According to NBC News, the study reveals that those who get only 6 hours or less every night are 4 times more likely to get a cold than those who sleep for 7 or more hours.

The study, which was led by Aric Prather, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, asked 164 healthy participants to wear a wrist actigraph to monitor their sleep. Following the week-long preparation period wearing the actigraph, the participants were made to sleep in hotels, where the researchers were given the rhinovirus via nasal drops.

The data they gathered revealed that those who regularly slept for 5 hours or less were 4.5 times more likely to catch a cold, compared to those who slept 7 hours or more. Those who slept for 6 hours were 4.2 times more likely to develop a cold.

Prather told NBC News, "We don't know conclusively what happens, but there are a variety of pathways and they all work together and ultimately put people at risk."

CNN reports that according to Nathan Watson, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the "study provides further evidence the important for adequate sleep. People need to consider sleep an important tool to healthy life, as opposed as an impediment to staying awake."

Additionally, Dr. M. Safwan Badr, former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and chief of the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit told NBC News that the study results were "powerful" and that "Sleep is part of our own nature's defense against illness."

In fact, the Huffington Post reports that there are a myriad of health benefits to adequate sleep, including a clean up in which the brain washes out the chemical byproducts created throughout the day. Researchers believe that this may be related to the reason why poor sleep is heavily linked to Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, studies have found that short sleep duration increases the risk of depression.

Lastly, studies have also found links between poor sleep and weight gain, which shows that the lesser sleep one gets, the higher chances that the person will be overeat and gain weight. It is therefore best to get quality sleep for at least 7 hours to maintain a healthy brain and body.