A recent study suggests that people who sleep less than 8 hours per night are more exposed to getting a cold than those who are more sleep efficient. Scientists believe that sleep deprivation affects the immune system, making it not function at an optimal level.

The study was conducted by interviewing 53 men and women ages 21 to 55 every day for two weeks. These people were asked questions referring to how they’ve slept, how much time it took before falling asleep and if they felt tired in the morning.

After that all of them were exposed to a cold virus and even though 88% got infected only some of them got sick. The results of the study show that a person who doesn’t get a lot of sleep is three times more likely to get a cold than a person who sleeps right.

About 43 percent of the volunteers had signs of infection plus cold symptoms, such as a stuffy nose, cough, and sore throat, and most of them were people that did not sleep very well. Scientists don’t know exactly how sleep affects the immune system, but the results are pretty clear.

Several factors were involved in the experiment, including the amount of sleep and the sleep quality. This puts insomniacs in a special category and in some way explains their sickly appearance. This study is very interesting pointing out a very special relation between sleep and our immune system