Is a cold or infection risk tied to not enough sleep at night? A new study looked at this issue. Essentially the researchers found that for adults in the United States who get 5 hours or less of sleep a night, or suffer from a sleep disorder, have more than likely recently gotten over a cold, as compared to adults who sleep more.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) reveal that more than 25% of the US population report that they occasionally do not get enough sleep. Add to this, 10% of the population report that they suffer from chronic insomnia. All in all about 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep type problems.
Not only can an insufficient amount of sleep suggest a higher risk of cold or infection, insufficient sleep can be associated with a number of other medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and depression. In addition to being associated with medical conditions, a lack of the proper amount of sleep can be the cause of car crashes and other machinery related injuries.
Researchers in the study took the responses from more than 22,000 adults who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys in the years between 2005 and 2012. The survey required for the participants to report the amount of sleep they typically received weekly, any history of diagnosed sleep disorders, or if they had ever complained to a doctor regarding a difficulty sleeping. In addition, the survey asked if the participants had a cold in the previous 30 days.
The results showed that close to 14% of the respondents said that they did not get 5 hours of sleep a night. 23% said that they slept 6 hours a night whereas 56% reported sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night, with 7% sleeping more than 9 hours.
19% of those who reported getting 5 hours of sleep a night or less also reported having a cold within the last 30 days. This was the highest of all the groups.
To read more about this results of this study and the article in support of this posting, click HERE.
