Does lack of sleep impact the COVID shot?

How much should you sleep before the vaccine?

Sleep sure does plays a very important part in the development of our immunity.

Getting a good amount of sound sleep is necessary in order to keep your immune system strong and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Studies have found that sleep and the circadian system do exert a strong regulatory influence on immune functions. Now, since we all know sleep is important, let’s find out how important it actually is.

What does science say?

A study was done in 2021 in this regard named ‘Temporal Links Between Self-Reported Sleep and Antibody Responses to the Influenza Vaccine’. The study suggested that sleep plays an important role in immunological memory, including antibody responses to seasonal flu vaccination.

This study showed that people who had less sleep for weeks leading up to their flu shot saw a decrease in the development of their antibodies just right after. And this also continued for a period of even 1 to 3 months after getting their flu shot.

Wellness tip for the day

Now that the pandemic situation is witnessing some hope with the large-scale distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, everyone is trying to get their doses on time as well.

For anyone who is trying to get their vaccines, sleep becomes all the more important. Make sure you sleep 7- 9 hours per night. Ignoring this might have an effect on the antibodies formed later in your body.

Just like we develop habits to take care of our physical health, like going to the gym or tracking our steps, and develop habits to take care of our nutritional needs, it’s absolutely essential to take care of our sleep habits as well.

You ideally want to sleep 7 to 9 hours per night or weeks till the time that leads to your vaccine. Apart from the duration, the quality of your sleep also really matters. I have an Instagram video to help you understand healthy sleep habits.

Hope this helps!

Roshni Sanghvi.