Getting insufficient sleep in the days before or after a vaccination could weaken its effectiveness particularly for men, a new study has found.
Researchers from the U.S., France, the U.K. and Sweden conducted the study, which was published in the journal Current Biology on Monday.
Men who reported getting six or fewer hours of sleep per night in the days before and after getting vaccinated showed a significant reduction in antibody response.
Women did not show that same association — although more data is needed.
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Pulling data from seven past studies in the PubMed database, researchers evaluated the antibody responses to influenza and hepatitis vaccines among 299 adults between the ages of 18 and 60.
(They excluded adults 65 years and older, as that age group generally has reduced quality and duration of sleep.)
“It is well-known that sleep plays an important role in regulating the immune system,” study co-author Aric A. Prather, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, told Fox News Digital in an email.
“How that happens is not well understood, but data suggests that aspects of sleep — like slow wave sleep, or the hormones released during sleep, like growth hormones — may directly communicate with the immune system to support protection.”
He added, “The key takeaway is that there is compelling evidence that insufficient sleep dampens our immune system’s capacity to mount protective antibodies following vaccinations.”
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Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, was not surprised by the study’s findings (he was not involved in the study), given sleep’s proven connection to the immune system.
“Studies have shown that people who don’t get sufficient or full-quality (deep REM) sleep are more susceptible to viral infections if exposed,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Lack of sleep also impacts recovery time from illness.”
H/T Fox News (read more at FoxNews.com)
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