Do you feel that your vigilance is less important at the moment? You may be more at risk of being infected with a viral disease. This discovery was made by a team of researchers from the University of Michigan. “We all know that if we are stressed or if we have not had enough sleep, it predisposes us to have a less resistant immune system,” summarized Alfred Hero, professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science at UM John H.Holland.
Before adding: “This is the first exposure study in humans to show that cognitive performance before exposure to a respiratory virus can predict the severity of infection”.
The smartphone, an ally
In this study, the team wanted to measure cognitive function and determine if it was predictive of immune performance after exposure to a respiratory virus. A total of 18 volunteers took brain performance tests three times a day for three days and then were exposed to a cold virus. “At first, we didn’t find that cognitive function had a significant association with disease susceptibility because we used raw scores. But later, when we looked at change over time, we found found that variation in cognitive function is closely related to immunity and susceptibility,” said Yaya Zhai, graduate…