It seems that our parents were right: when you catch cold – sleep is the best remedy.
Although we know that cold and flu during the autumn and winter months are not rare, these unfortunate visitors always remind us that it’s time to slow down a bit and to take better care of your health. However, the symptoms of a plain cold are much milder, and the disease generally lessens the body’s immune due to which flu can last for up to a few weeks.
German scientists have discovered that sleep improves the ability of the body to fight against the cold. Dream appears to strengthen the capacity of certain immune cells by improving their chances of ‘getting stuck’ and possibly destroying viruses infected.
Scientists have focused on so-called T-cells that fight with infections. When the T-cell in front of the virus infects the cell, it activates the adhesive integrin protein that allows it to merge onto the cell. Scientists have managed to prove that the lack of sleep, as well as longer periods of stress, result in higher levels of hormones that seem to block the main switch that activates the sticky proteins.
In animals it has been noticed that, when the infection is inflicted, those who have a significant increase in the length of the deep sleep have significantly higher chances of surviving an infection than those whodo not show this type of response. Lack of sleep causes changes in the functioning of immunity and it seems to generally reduce the resistance to infection.
Well, cold sometimes can make a big problem even though there are a lot of ways to fix it. But, firstly we need a rest because as our immune system is tired and we need to give it some rest in order to power up again and shield us from harmful diseases. So, lots of sleep and hot soup are a perfect solution for recovery.
