A night of good sleep is extremely important for the well-being of the body. Now, a new study has revealed that sleep is a crucial factor in vaccination. According to a new study, while scheduling a vaccination appointment for COVID-19 or a flu shot, it is important to ensure you get a long and peaceful sleep before the shot.
According to Eve Van Cauter, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine and senior author of the study, good sleep not only amplifies but may also extend the duration of protection of the vaccine.
An alarming outcome of the study was that the impact of poor sleep on the immune response to a vaccine was only scientifically relevant in men.
“Research that used objective measures of sleep deprivation, such as that of a sleep lab, found a decrease in the ability to respond to the vaccine that was particularly and statistically significant in males, but not females,” said study co-author Dr. Michael Irwin, distinguished professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine.
According to experts, there are varied differences between foreign antigens like viruses and self-antigens, like in autoimmune disorders by different sexes.
However, the researchers emphasised that if a person is sleep-deprived, jet-lagged, working a night shift, or has a disturbed sleep-wake cycle, consider delaying the vaccination.
According to experts, the human body needs to experience four stages of sleep several times a night which include the first and second stages, when the body starts to decrease its rhythms, the third stage in which the body is restoring itself on a cellular level and the final stage which is Rapid eye movement sleep, also called REM sleep. Studies have shown that missing REM sleep, which is also when we dream, may lead to memory deficit and poor cognitive outcomes, as well as heart and other chronic diseases and early death.
As a part of the study, The team conducted an analysis that revealed that if a person arrived for a COVID-19 vaccination without adequate sleep, their antibody response to the vaccine would be weakened by the equivalent of two months. The scientists claim that this is based entirely on their body’s initial response.
The researchers also emphasised that more studies are needed to detect the nuances of poor sleep’s impact on the immune system.