Individuals who have less than 7 hours sleep a night are three times more likely to catch the common cold than someone who gets more than eight hours or more, a study shows.

Research into the matter shows that sleep deprivation is one of the main factors leading to someone catching a cold, this is because of lack of sleep can lead to a dip of Killer T cells whose main role is to fight and destroy viruses linked to the common cold.
The study took place with a 153 men and women, aged between 21 and 53.

The subjects of study were then infected with nasal drops that contained the rhinovirus. The team of scientists then kept track of the cold symptoms each subject produced such as congestion, sneezing and runny noses.

For two weeks the quarantined participants were monitored by scientist and at the end of the experiment their bloods were taken looking for the production of antibodies that will fight the rhinovirus and a prevent the development of a cold.

The result of this experiment found that those who slept for less than seven hours were three times more likely to develop a cold than someone who had slept for more than eight hours.

The leader of the study suggested that “People who have sleep efficiencies between 92 and 98 percent, are four times more likely to get colds than people who have 99 to 100 percent efficiency.”

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