Lack of sleep in men linked with reduced effect of vaccine shot: Study

A sleep-deprived individual's body may have limited effects of vaccination, a latest study found. It added that sleeping less than six hours the night before receiving a vaccine shot (for Covid or flu) reduces protection against the virus or disease-causing microorganism.

"Good sleep not only amplifies but may also extend the duration of protection of the vaccine," senior author Eve Van Cauter, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, said in an official statement.

However, the study added that the impact of inadequate sleep on immune response to a vaccine is clinically relevant in men.

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"Research that used objective measures of sleep deprivation, such as that of a sleep lab, found a decrease in the ability to respond to the vaccine that was particularly and statistically significant in males, but not females," study's co-author Dr Michael Irwin, distinguished professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, was quoted as saying by CNN.

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Experts say that in general women have stronger immune responses to vaccines due to differences in hormonal, genetic and environmental factors.

The new study, published Monday in the journal Current Biology, took a meta-analysis on existing research on sleep and immune function after vaccination against influenza A and Hepatitis A and B. When the study took measures such as requiring people to come to a sleep lab, they found "robust" association of less than optimal immunity post the vaccination.

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The study did not include analysis of antibody response to Covid vaccines due to lack of adequate studies on sleep in Covid-vaccinated people.

"How we stimulate the immune system is the same whether we are using an mRNA vaccine for Covid-19, or an influenza, hepatitis, typhoid or pneumococcal vaccine,” Irwin said. “It’s a prototypical antibody or vaccine response, and that’s why we believe we can generalise to Covid," Dr Irwin said.

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