Health authorities remind the people to wear a mask, wash hands, and obey social distancing guidelines in the wake of growing COVID-19 outbreaks. Fortunately, a growing body of research shows that your chances of preventing coronavirus could also significantly boost your sleep!

A report demonstrating how having enough sleep will allow someone to defend themselves from the deadly virus has been released by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and Carnegie Mellon University. 

The study notes how adequate sleep can help battle the common cold in the immune system and indicates that sleep could do the same against the coronavirus.

Given how 2020 was, how's your sleep going these days?

Get some rest, insomniacs!

According to Dr. Gary Levinson, who specializes in sleep for Sharp Healthcare, getting enough sleep may be more important than ever!

"There is definitely some science behind the fact that lack of sleep decreases your immunity and decreases your response to vaccines," said Dr. Levinson.

Researchers gave a dose of the common cold to 164 persons and monitored their sleeping patterns. Those who slept fewer than six hours a night were four and a half times more likely than those who slept more than seven hours to experience cold symptoms.

Elyssa Anthony and Vanessa Adams, natives of San Diego, have somewhat different sleeping patterns. 

Anthony said she's skeptical over the claims. "Just because I used to sleep all the time and I would be sick all the time and then, honestly, I've slept less and I haven't gotten sick as much," she told NBC7.

On the other hand, Adams claims she sleeps eight to nine hours and takes a nap during the day. She told Anthony to "sleep" because of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, almost one in three American adults do not get at least seven hours of sleep a night as prescribed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Why should we get eight hours of sleep a day?

Dr. Levinson said the T-cells of a human, the soldiers that fight diseases, are less successful in sleep-deprived people.

She states that if you have it, sleep loss will raise the chances of either contracting a viral infection or defending against viral infection.

Levinson added that Cytokines, a group of epidemic-related inflammatory molecules, are also a significant subject of sleep science and immunity. The research shows that if they have an insufficient sleep, persons afflicted with colds and influenza show more vital signs. 

This is possibly attributed to elevated numbers of T-cells and other immune cells interacting with pro-inflammatory cytokines.

"Sleep is a big part of life and I think it's very important that people accept that and there's no heroics in saying you sleep a little because that doesn't help you," said Levinson.

While medical countermeasure improvement means progress, getting at least seven hours of sleep a night and protected environment would continue to represent the first line of protection against infection. Of course, in daily handwashing with soap and water and keeping a good social distance (6 feet) would definitely help.

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