A good night’s sleep is just the shot

Having travel vaccinations? A good night’s sleep afterwards could make them more effective.
That was the finding of a new US study published in the scientific journal, Sleep. 

Researchers from the University of California in San Francisco set out to measure how the immune system reacts to vaccines under real-life conditions, including being followed up with a poor night’s sleep.

They immunised 125 people aged 40 – 60 with the Hepatitis B vaccine. Residents of the state of Pennsylvania, all were non-smokers and in relatively good health.

Each person received the standard three-dose course of hepatitis B vaccine, with the first and second doses administered a month apart, followed by a booster dose at six months.
 
Participants monitored, results measured
All 125 completed sleep diaries detailing their bedtime, wake time and sleep quality, while 88 of them also wore actigraphs (electronic sleep monitors).

Antibody levels were measured prior to the second and third injection, and six months after the final vaccination, to determine whether they had antibody levels sufficient to mount a 'clinically protective response’ to the disease.

Antibodies are manufactured by the body’s immune system to identify and neutralise foreign objects, such as viruses like Hepatitis B.
 
Less sleep = less protection from vaccines
Nearly 15% of the study participants showed no protection six months after receiving the third injection in the series.

Blood tests found that those who had fewer than six hours sleep were 11.5 times less likely to be protected by the vaccine compared to those who had more than seven hours.

The study’s lead author, Dr Aric Prather, said lack of sleep clearly had a detrimental effect on the body’s immune system, whereas sleeping more than seven hours a night offered significant health benefits.

“With the emergence of our 24-hour lifestyle, longer working hours, and the rise in the use of technology, chronic sleep deprivation has become a way of life for many,” Dr Prather said.

“Based on our findings and existing laboratory evidence, sleep may belong on the list of behavioural risk factors that influence vaccination efficacy.”
 
Sleep and good health – a clear link
He said the study should help raise awareness in the public health community about the clear connection between sleep and health.

“There is more work to be done in this area,” he said.

“However, in time physicians and other health care professionals who administer vaccines may want to consider asking their patients about their sleep patterns, since lack of sleep may significantly affect the potency of the vaccination.”

The scientists said previous research had shown that poor sleep can make people susceptible to chronic and infectious diseases such as upper respiratory infections.

They conceded their findings will need to be tested on other vaccines and that the study was not definitive proof that lack of sleep reduced the antibody response to vaccines, since it merely observed sleep patterns and made a statistical association between length of sleep time and the participants’ immune response to vaccines.

However, it does provide further evidence that skimping on sleep isn’t great for the human immune system – something most of us probably already knew.
 
Travelvax Australia provides a complete vaccination service for travellers at its 32 clinics nationwide. Book an appointment or find out more about the potential health risks for your next overseas journey by calling our free advisory health service on 1300 360 164.