Sleeping well helps the body to produce antibodies after the vaccine – 02/04/2023 – Health

The benefits of a deep night’s sleep for “rebooting” the nervous system, maintaining good heart health and for cognitive development are already known.

Now, a new study suggests that good sleep can help with antibody production after vaccination. What’s more, research shows a clear reduction in the immune response in people who sleep six hours or less before immunization.

Despite not including Covid vaccine data, the authors of the study claim that the drop in antibodies caused by a poorly slept night’s sleep is equivalent to the natural decay that occurs two months after immunization with RNA vaccines-taking into account only the level of antibodies circulating in the body, and not the cellular immune response, which is described as more lasting.

The study was published in the specialized journal Current Biology on the 13th and had the collaboration of researchers from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States.

To analyze the effects of sleep on vaccination, the scientists carried out a meta-analysis (analysis of data published in previous studies, without collecting new information) of seven studies that evaluated the relationship between hours of sleep and levels of antibodies of the IgG type ( immunoglobulin G, associated with the memory immune response) after vaccination against influenza or hepatitis.

As a result, people who got six hours or less of sleep had a lower ability to produce antibodies compared to those who slept more hours.

Analyzing the differences between men and women, women did not show a significant reduction in the ability to produce antibodies after vaccination associated with hours of sleep. In men, this difference was statistically significant (95% confidence level).

Finally, the research excluded people aged 65 years or older from the analysis, since in older individuals a phenomenon known as immunosenescence already occurs, which is characterized by a reduced capacity for protective response due to the immune system already “matured” .

According to the authors, the observed gender differences may be related to hormonal issues, since women have important metabolic differences related to the menstrual cycle, but to confirm this, it would be necessary to isolate the factors that can influence the production of antibodies, and the study did not set out to do this in the end.

In conclusion, the researchers say that the study presents important evidence of the role of sleep in the immune response. “As the study suggests, adequate amounts of sleep [pelo menos seis horas por noite] during the days preceding vaccination may potentiate the humoral response [de anticorpos] for different forms of viruses. Such a recommendation to get adequate sleep is in line with other similar recommendations and may be an effective and cost-effective way to strengthen the immune system,” they say.