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Sleep found to fend off the common cold

Exposure to viruses that cause the common cold is inevitable. Can people do something to prevent invading viruses from turning into a full-blown case of the sniffles?

Sleep can stop a cold before it starts, according to a new study.

“Sometimes when we’re exposed to viruses, we end up not getting sick,” psychologist Aric Prather at the University of California, San Francisco told NPR.

In the study, Prather and colleagues recruited 164 healthy adults and exposed them to the common cold by giving them nasal drops that had a live rhinovirus. The researchers checked participants’ length and continuity of sleep over seven days using sleep diaries and a wrist device.

“What we found was that individuals who were sleeping the least were substantially more likely to develop a cold,” Prather told NPR. Roughly 39 percent of people sleeping five or six hours a night caught a cold. In contrast, only 18 percent of those sleeping seven or more hours got sick.

Sleep was more important than age, stress or income level, in predicting who would catch a cold, according to the research.

The study found no relationship between fragmented sleep and cold susceptibility.

The results of the study were published this week in the journal Sleep.

Why does sleep protect people from colds? The popular belief that lack of sleep can bring on a cold or the flu has a scientific basis. The immune system can fight viruses that cause colds and adequate sleep can play a protective role.

Smoking, stress, and lack of exercise may increase susceptibility too, research suggests.

How much sleep is enough? According to sleep expert recommendations released in June, seven or more hours per night seem to be right for adults, but people recovering from illnesses need more. Children and teens need more sleep — about nine hours.

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