TAMPA, Fla. — You've been hearing it for years.
Sleep is essential to a healthy lifestyle yet 1 in 3 American adults don't get enough of it.
Well if you needed another reason to make sure you're getting the shut-eye your body craves, look no further than the coronavirus pandemic ravaging our planet.
It's simple. Getting enough sleep is important for maintaining a strong immune system. A strong immune system is important to protect yourself from COVID-19.
Dr. Tanuja Sharma is a Family Medicine Physician at Tampa General Hospital. Sharma said, "Sleep deprivation causes inflammation and increases all of your pro-inflammatory cytokines. What this is, is your whole body is kind of in an inflammatory state."
Yikes. You don't want to be in an "inflammatory state" if you catch the COVID-19, a virus that can cause inflammation of the lungs in serious cases.
"We know the sleep deprivation can have a direct impact on your immune health and increase risk of infection," Sharma added.
A 2015 study found a direct connection between sleep and illness.
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and Carnegie Mellon University took 164 healthy adults and squirted rhinovirus up their noses. That’s the virus associated with the common cold. The adults who slept less than six hours a night were more than four times more likely to get sick than those who slept more than seven hours a night.
At the time, the lead author of the study, Dr. Aric Prather said, “Short sleep was more important than any other factor in predicting subjects’ likelihood of catching cold." The study found it was more important than age, stress-level, race or whether someone was a smoker.
Another 2019 study found the flu vaccine isn't as effective if you don't get adequate sleep in the weeks after you got your shot.
Experts recommend getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night -- not an easy task in 2020.
"Because anxiety and mental illness has increased because of the pandemic, that’s interfering with sleep even more," Sharma said.
Tips for getting better sleep during the pandemic include sticking to a routine, winding-down before bed, and exercising during the day. You can find more sleep guidelines here.
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