So you think you’re doing all the right things this winter to avoid the common cold, huh? You’re applying hand sanitizer at the gym, you’re making sure your toddler’s hands are washed before touching anything (or anyone) in the house, you’re getting plenty of vitamin C from fresh fruits and vegetables, and you’re supplementing with some of the natural herbs proven to crush the common cold.

Well it turns out that without a good night’s sleep, all those cold-snapping tricks of the trade could all be for not.

Over 150 people participated in a study conducted by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University that analyzed what effect sleep had on the likelihood of the participants getting a cold. Each participant was given nasal drops of the rhinovirus in an attempt to induce cold symptoms.

The participants were instructed to live as they normally do, being interviewed regularly over two weeks and asked various questions relating to how they felt physically and how much sleep they got the previous night. What they found confirms what we have long known about the importance of sleep: eight hours of sleep a night are critical.

I say that because depending on whether or not the participant got at least eight hours of sleep a night played a major role in the likelihood of their coming down with a cold. According to their analysis, the participants who got less than seven hours of sleep a night were three times more likely to develop a cold than those who slept the recommended eight hours. They also found a link between cold symptoms and the quality of sleep. For example, among those who spent more time in bed asleep – as opposed to being in bed but awake – they were five times less likely to develop cold symptoms. This goes back to why so many health experts advise people use their bed for its true purpose: for sleeping, not for reading or for watching television.

The link between lack of sleep and cold susceptibility? The researchers speculate it’s perhaps due to poor sleeping patterns disturbing the body’s release of signaling molecules that fight off infection.

Full details of the study are published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

This study really explains a lot. I know so many people who live the healthiest of lives – eating right, exercising regularly and practicing good hygiene – yet will get colds out of nowhere. The one thing lacking in their lives is sleep. Sleep is huge for quality health. In fact, it’s during our sleep sessions that the body re-builds itself and more efficiently repairs from the breakdown in muscles exercise and everyday movements create (exercise breaks down the muscles, diet and rest builds them back up so they’re stronger than before).

I know I don’t always get enough sleep, but I’m trying to make it more of a priority every day; the priority has gone critical with this latest study.