The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recommends continued focus on better sleep health to help immune function and response.
Ensuring enough good-quality sleep can support boosting the body’s immune defense. Lack of sleep can play a role in susceptibility to infection and certain diseases.
Efforts to develop vaccines and implement a vaccination program to help combat COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the critical importance of vaccinations in public health. “Evidence has been strong over the years about the impact of good sleep on overall health and immune response, and more research is emerging that shows the positive effects of sleep on how vaccines can work in the body,” says Rick Bogan, MD, and board chair of the National Sleep Foundation, in a release.
Studies have indicated that not getting enough sleep before and after a vaccination can result in less immune response and may potentially affect vaccine protection. These findings provide further support for an association between sleep duration and antibody responses to vaccines.
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“Right now, many people are choosing to get one of the more important vaccinations they’ve been offered. Prioritizing good sleep can be part of the plan, especially if their work or age may put them at risk for sleep disruption or deprivation. The National Sleep Foundation wants to emphasize the overall importance of sleep health and give some tips the public can follow to help get the good sleep we need,” says John Lopos, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation, in a release.
NSF recommends that healthy adults get 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
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