Sleep & Your Immune System

Our immune system is important for keeping us healthy, but something most of us don't get is also needed to keep it healthy.

It turns out that among other things, poor sleep can drastically affect your immune system.

Most of us know that with a strong immune system, we stand the best chance of fighting off the almost constant onslaught of cold and flu illnesses. But sometimes our immune system isn't strong enough to fight the fight. And that usually means we get a cold, the flu or some other illness.

Part of the reason our immune system gets overwhelmed is because of things going on in our lives that help weaken it, like excess stress or other illnesses. But now we are finding out just how important sleep is in keeping our immune system strong.

A new study found that sleep deprivation caused the body to produce white blood cells which were an indication that the body was undergoing stress. This stress takes a toll on the body's immune system. Prior research has also shown that a lack of sleep can also increase a person's chances of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and even increase your chances of becoming obese.

So although sleep is important to staying awake the next day at work or school, it's also important to staying healthy and to keeping a strong immune system going.