Did you know that the quality and length of sleep you get impacts on your susceptibility to the common cold?
A recent study showed that:

• participants with less than 7 hours of sleep were 2.94 times more likely to develop a cold than those with 8 hours or more sleep
• Those with less than 92% sleep efficiency were 5.5 times more likely to develop a cold than those 98% or more efficiency. (sleep efficiency was defined as the percentage of time actually asleep.)
• These relationships could not be explained by differences in prechallenge virus-specific antibody titers, demographics, season of the year, body mass, socioeonomic status, psychological variables or health practices.
• The percentage of days feeling rested was not associated with colds

Cohen S, Doyle WJ, Alper CM et al. Arch Intern Med 2009; 169(1):62-67