Can sleep or stress impair your COVID-19 vaccination?

COVID-19 vaccines are very effective in repelling the deadly virus. Is there a way to make them even better?

To learn more, 600 Bay Area residents are recruiting a large new UC San Francisco study to investigate whether a range of predictors – such as age, sleep, stress and emotional well-being – the strength and endurance of the defense of can affect our body.

“We measure factors that may lead to a more robust response, as well as factors that we believe will dampen, or weaken, the antibody response,” said UCSF professor of psychiatry Elissa Epel, an associate researcher at Building Optimal Antibodies. Study said. project.

There may be ways to compensate for vaccine shortages, according to emotional, behavioral or other interventions according to the research team.

In a race against time, the US is rushing to expand access to the precious COVID-19 vaccines. By Friday, about 17 percent of Americans had been vaccinated.

Although it is very good, it is not perfect. A two-dose regimen of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines prevents 92.6% of infections two weeks after the second admission. The Johnson & Johnson shot is 72% effective.

In some rare cases, humans can still develop COVID-19 despite vaccination. The California Department of Public Health did not disclose the number of so-called “breakthrough cases” but said it is studying where and how often they occur.

Vaccines are designed to give the immune system a lasting memory of the viral components so that it can attack when confronted with the actual pathogen. It responds by using T cells, which identify and kill infected cells, and B cells, which produce the antibodies that bind to the virus so that it cannot enter the cell.

But experience with other vaccines shows that not everyone responds equally well. And our defense is fading at different rates. While new evidence shows that the Pfizer vaccine is effective for at least six months, its long-term durability is unknown.

By measuring antibodies and T cells over time, “this study will help us understand the ‘time course’ of people’s responses,” said Aric Prather, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and co-investigator of the UCSF study. .

“What are the factors in our lives that can actually contribute and create a better response?” he said. “Or are you endangering people through a suboptimal response?”

For example, age is known to play a role. The flu vaccine is about 70% to 90% effective in young adults – but less than 55% effective in the elderly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As we age, there is a decrease in the number, activity and diversity of the protective T cells of the immune system, a process that scientists call ‘immunosensitivity’. By the age of 50, our T cell production is less than 10% of the peak.

Inadequate sleep, according to Prather, is another predictor of how well our immune system responds to vaccination. Sleepless nights have been shown to increase a person’s susceptibility to colds. It also dampens the body’s response to flu and hepatitis vaccinations.

“If people do not get the sleep they need, they cannot build up the army of T cells that are important to protect us from viruses,” Prather said.

It is also known that chronic stress impairs the antibody response to a flu vaccine. Stress – such as the death of a loved one, financial loss and parenting stress due to school closures – can alter the immune-regulating hormones.

“The adrenaline response to stress is helpful to us – but if it is too extreme during the time of vaccination, it can interfere with the molecular pathways of the immune response,” Epel said.

The team makes a specific appeal to include coloreds who are depressed by stress and discrimination, to see if these factors influence the response to the vaccine.

Obesity has been linked to a blunted immune response to the COVID-19 virus. And vaccines for other infections often do not work as well in overweight people, suggesting that the COVID-19 shot may not be completely protective.

UCSF is dr. Monica Gandhi may also play a role or the underlying health of it. For example, people with high immune use may have a more blunt response.

All of this could cause potential problems for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Volunteers in the study will complete questionnaires over a period of six months. They will be asked about their mood several times a day. They will also ask questions such as, “What was the most stressful thing you came across today?” “How many hours did you sleep last night?” “How did you feel about your sleep quality last night?”

Only persons who have not been vaccinated will be eligible to participate. UCSF cannot provide the vaccine as part of the study, so volunteers must be vaccinated elsewhere.

Their blood will be tested three different times: before the vaccination, one month after the second vaccination and six months after the second vaccination. They will be paid up to $ 300 for completing all aspects of the study.

In the blood, the scientists will measure the immune system response and count the levels of antibodies and T cells. We do not yet know exactly how many cells are needed to guarantee protection, Epel said. But it is possible to determine the overall strength of an immune response.

The team also measures the telomeres of the volunteers, the protective shells at the end of the chromosomes. Longer telomeres indicate a more youthful immune system, with cells that can divide more strongly when exposed to antigens. Shorter telomere length has been linked to worse infection with a cold virus, and weaker antibody response to flu vaccination.

According to the team, this information will be kept private. It will be ‘identified’, meaning it will be kept separate from the person’s name, phone number or email address, and no one outside the study staff will have access to records, including your employer.