A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that people who slept less than seven hours on average were three times as likely to catch a cold than those who slept at least eight hours. The researchers studied the sleep habits of 153 healthy people for two weeks before administering to each of them nasal drops containing the rhinovirus, which causes the common cold. It was determined that the less sleep one got, the more likely he would contract a cold. The researchers also suggested that the chemicals released by the immune system in response to infection are influenced by sleep disturbance. Thus, quality of sleep appears to affect one's immune defenses as well. Those in the study who experienced inefficient or low-quality sleep were five times more likely not to fend off the rhinovirus.
-compiled by Kate Singleton
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