Less Sleep Makes You More Likely to Catch a Cold, Study Finds More than 160 people caught colds for science in an effort to better understand how sleep impacts our immune systems.

By Nina Zipkin

entrepreneur daily
Shutterstock

With summer on the way out, cold and flu season will soon be upon us. We all know to wash our hands often to avoid getting sick, but a new study suggests that getting more sleep may be just as important in cold prevention.

In the study, researchers monitored the sleep patterns of 164 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 55 for a week. The participants kept sleep journals and wore wrist actigraphy devices to track their movements and activity as they slept. They were then quarantined, exposed to the rhinovirus (also known as the main cause of the common cold) and monitored for five days afterward while the colds took hold.

Related: Your DNA Might Determine If You're an Early Bird or a Night Owl

Ultimately the researchers found that the people who slept six hours a night or less were four times more likely to contract a cold compared to those who got seven hours of sleep or more.

"Short sleep was more important than any other factor in predicting subjects' likelihood of catching cold," said Aric Prather, assistant professor of psychiatry at UC San Francisco and the study's lead author. "It didn't matter how old people were, their stress levels, their race, education or income. It didn't matter if they were a smoker. With all those things taken into account, statistically sleep still carried the day."

Related: Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep: The Do's, Don'ts and What We Still Don't Know

Still, they noted that there was still work to be done to find out more. "Whether sleep interventions aimed at increasing sleep duration would protect individuals from cold incidence remains an open question."

The study was carried out by psychiatry and psychology researchers from the University of California San Francisco, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Carnegie Mellon University. The results have been published in the journal Sleep.

Related: This Is Your Brain on Not Enough Sleep (Infographic)

Nina Zipkin

Entrepreneur Staff

Staff Writer. Covers leadership, media, technology and culture.

Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers leadership, media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Side Hustle

I Started a Semi-Passive Side Hustle That Earns $33,000 a Week on Amazon: 'Selling There Is a No-Brainer'

Dr. Jenny Woo wanted to create a product that would help people connect, and it turned out to be a lucrative one.

Business News

Compass Agrees to Pay $57.5 Million to Settle Real Estate Commissions Lawsuits

The class action lawsuits accused Compass of violating antitrust law and conspiring to overcharge U.S. home sellers.

Business News

Jerry Seinfeld Is Now Reportedly a Billionaire — Here's Where His Wealth Comes From

Seinfeld also boasts an impressive real estate portfolio.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Business News

X Is Losing Users and Struggling to Attract Creators, According to New Data

The company, which is owned by Elon Musk, says that 1.7 million people join the platform every day.