http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_9557.html
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search
Advanced Search
Site Map
About MEDLINEplus
Home
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
Reuters Health
By Charnicia E. Huggins
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An annual vaccination may be the best way to protect against the influenza bug, but to guarantee its effectiveness, people should also be sure to get a good night's sleep before they get their flu shot, new study findings show.
"Getting your flu shot after not having enough sleep may not offer the same protection as getting it when well-rested," study author Dr. Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago in Illinois told Reuters Health.
"Chronic partial sleep loss, as experienced by millions of Americans today, has an adverse effect on immune function," she added.
To investigate, Van Cauter and her team studied 25 healthy young men. Eleven had their sleep restricted to just 4 hours a night on 6 nights of the week, followed by 12 hours of sleep per night for a full week. They were vaccinated against the flu on the morning of the fifth day during their sleep-deprived week. The remaining 14 men maintained their usual bedtimes before they were vaccinated.
At follow-up, 10 days after the vaccinations, the investigators found that the men who were immunized while sleep-deprived had an immune response to the flu that was less than half of that shown by their better-rested peers.
At both the 3- and 4-week follow-ups, however, there were no great differences in immune response between the two groups, the researchers note. Their findings are published in a letter to the editor in the September 25th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
"These findings add to a growing body of evidence indicating that sleep curtailment has adverse health effects," such as making people more prone to colds and other illnesses, Van Cauter said.
The study was partially funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;288:1471-1472.
Copyright 2002 Reuters. Reuters content is the
intellectual property of Reuters. Any copying, republication or redistribution
of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be
liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon. Reuters, the Reuters Dotted Logo and the Sphere Logo are registered
trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
|
Health Topics
| Drug
Information |
Dictionaries
| Directories
| Other
Resources | Home |
|
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD
20894
Contact Us, Copyright, Privacy, Accessibility, Selection Guidelines, FAQs Page last updated: 25 September 2002 |
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.