A lack of sleep compromises our immune systems and makes us more susceptible to colds and flu.
Autumn is not only holiday season, with year-end delights beckoning, it's also "cold and flu" season, which fewer people choose to celebrate.
Instead of Thanksgiving turkey and yams, and Halloween treats, think vitamin C and Echinacea.
But what about sleep - not getting enough can suppress the immune system and create a likelihood of sickness.
As any California Insurance agent can tell you, poor sleep habits and susceptibility to colds and influenza go hand-in-hand - much like a germ-spreading handshake.
Sleep, its quantity and especially its quality, can play a role in maintaining the body's defenses.
In a recent study conducted by the Archives of Internal Medicine, scientists tracked 153 men and women for a fortnight (two weeks), monitoring the quality and duration of sleep that these experimental subjects experienced.
Next, during a five-day follow-up, the subjects were quarantined and exposed to cold viruses.
Those who slept an average of less than seven hours a night, it transpired, were three times more likely to become ill as those who slept for at least eight hours.
Sleep and immunity are apparently interrelated.
Studies have found that mammals that require the most sleep also produce increased levels of disease-fighting white blood cells, but not red blood cells -- even though both kinds of cells are produced in bone marrow and are derived from identical precursors.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have demonstrated that "good-sleeping" species resist pathogens (germs) with a special resilience.
California Insurance agents specialize in selling customized plans that allow their customers more sleep, as well as a better quality of REM sleep that facilitates dreams.
If it's known that you're not sleeping enough, run; don't walk, to the nearest office of a California Insurance agent before you catch a cold or flu bug.
Celebrating the holidays is a lot more fun if you're not sick - but if you do become ill, you'll have the right coverage.