Study finds sleep deprivation may make vaccines less effective

The degree of protection from vaccines may depend on getting enough sleep, at least six hours, on the days before and after the injection, according to a study published today. current biology.

Team Chicago universities (USA) and Lyon (France) analyzed some of the literature on sleep duration and the body’s response to sleep. vaccinationhaving established a link between sleep less than six hours a night and a strong decrease in the immune response.

The study focused on vaccines against flu And Hepatitis A And B.. Although comparable data on COVID-19 was not available, the researchers highlighted the need to identify simple behavioral interventions, such as getting enough sleep, that could improve response to a coronavirus vaccine.

The team compared antibody responses in people who slept “normally” (between 7 and 9 hours) and “short sleepers” (less than 6 hours per night).

Using the results of a meta-analysis and comparing them with known data on the response of antibodies to vaccine against COVID-19 by Pfizer-BioNTech, calculated that the effect of insufficient sleep on vaccine response would be equivalent to a two-month drop in antibodies after vaccination. “Interestingly, we saw similar results with both influenza, which is a respiratory virus, and hepatitis, which affects the liver, suggesting that this effect may extend to all types of viruses, including coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV.-2 ,” said Creek Spiegel of the University of Lyon.

The researchers also looked at data by gender, as women tend to have a stronger response to the vaccine than men.

Antibody production

In men, there was a strong relationship between the number of hours of sleep and the production of antibodies, but the effect was much more variable in women. The authors believe that this difference is probably due to fluctuations in the level of sex hormones.

“In women, immunity is affected by the state of the menstrual cycle, the use of contraceptives, menopause and postmenopausal status, but, unfortunately, none of the studies that we summarized had data on the level of sex hormones,” she said Spiegel.

In addition, effects were compared between adults over 65 and younger adults.

In this case, the negative impact of insufficient sleep on the level antibodies in adults from 18 to 60 years old, it was higher than in people over 65 years old.

The authors do not find this surprising since, in general, older people tend to sleep less; Going from seven hours of sleep per night to less than six hours is not as big a change as going from eight hours to less than six per night.

Much remains to be learned about sleep and vaccinationin aspects such as understanding gender differences, which days during vaccination are the most important and how much sleep is needed so that people can navigate, ”added Spiegel (EFE).