Study: Too little or too much sleep can increase the risk of infection

Study: Too little or too much sleep can increase the risk of infection

A new study has found that sleeping too little or too much can increase a person's risk of infection. While the time you spend sleeping is important for fighting infections, how well you sleep regularly is also important. Experts recommend individuals focus on proper sleep hygiene to optimize their sleep quality and quantity.

A new study has found that getting too little — or too much — sleep each night can increase a person's risk of infection.

Your immune system is directly affected by the amount of sleep you get each night, as well as the quality of that sleep. Sleep can actually either positively or negatively impact your risk of heart attack, obesity, diabetes, and cognitive dysfunction.

But researchers are still collecting data on how sleep habits directly affect the function of various body systems. According to Vijay Ramanan, MD, PhD, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, sleep quality affects cytokines — types of proteins that can stimulate or slow down the immune system — which may explain how sleep might be associated with risks for infection.

"It's still very likely that poor sleep is actually an indicator of other things that influence infection risk," said Dr. RamananHealth. “It may simply be that people who get either too little or too much sleep are in poor health for other reasons and may be at higher risk of infection.”

Still, he explained, "There are many good reasons to consider sleep as a modifiable factor that could improve overall health and perhaps even limit the risk of viral and other infections."

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Sleep quality is crucial

In the most recent study, Norwegian researchers recruited medical students to survey patients in general practitioner waiting rooms. The research team wanted to focus on people who use primary care, as this population is known to have higher rates of sleep problems.

“We wanted to assess this association in a more realistic setting,” explained Ingeborg Forthun, PhD, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Bergen, Norway, who co-authored the study.

A total of almost 1,850 people were surveyed. Researchers found that patients with insomnia were 15% more likely to have an infection and almost 50% more likely to be prescribed an antibiotic. Those who slept less than 6 hours were nearly 30% more likely to report an infection and nearly 60% more likely to have been prescribed an antibiotic in the past three months, compared with those who reported sleeping 7–8 hours, which researchers noted is the ideal amount for most adults.

Too much sleep has also been found to have negative health effects. Those who reported sleeping more than 9 hours were 44% more likely to have an infection than those who slept 7-8 hours.

It's still unclear whether sleep patterns predict infection or rather indicate an underlying condition that could be causing both poor sleep and susceptibility to infection.

"A likely explanation could be that infection causes sleep disturbances or increased sleepiness, or that both sleep and infection risks are associated with an underlying medical condition," noted Dr. Forthun.

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Get enough good sleep every night

According to Dr. Almost every aspect of sleep is personal to Ramanan. But in general, most adults need to sleep between 7 and 8 hours each night. Children and young people need more, usually between 10 and 12 hours.

“There is never a one-size-fits-all solution, but in general children need more than adults and everyone has their own taste,” he said.

The focus should also be on a person's quality of sleep and not just the quantity.

For example, a person who has had "enough" sleep may not feel rested due to poor sleep quality - poor sleep quality also appears to increase a person's risk of illness, observed Dr. Forthun.

According to Dr. According to Ramanan, sleep apnea, getting up at night to go to the bathroom, and stress and anxiety are all reasons why a person may feel sleepy after sleeping 8 hours a night.

"Overall, you may get many hours of sleep, but if the quality is not good, you may weaken the restorative function of sleep in different parts of the body," he explained. “People with sleep apnea can sleep for 12 hours and still wake up feeling unrested because they don’t breathe regularly during the night, which impacts their overall sleep quality.”

To improve sleep quality, Dr. Advise people to focus on good sleep hygiene. Dr. Ramanan recommended paying attention to both the way you fall asleep and the way you wake up.

“How you go in and out of sleep is important,” explained Dr. Ramanan and pointed out that turning off devices at bedtime, maintaining a routine, turning off lights at night, using a white noise machine, and keeping blinds open during the day can all help the body sleep better.

He also recommended addressing the things in your life that might be causing stress and anxiety - factors that are well known to disrupt healthy sleep patterns.

In general, it's also good to exercise or eat just before bed, as these activate the body in a way that promotes wakefulness rather than sleep. Good sleep hygiene also includes going to bed and getting up at about the same time every day.

“Life is never easy or perfect,” concluded Dr. Ramanan, "but consistency and sticking to a routine, even if it's not exactly the same time every day, can help."

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