How Sleep Strengthens Your Immune System Researchers say adequate sleep helps T cells in your body fight off infection If you needed another reason to get a good sleep, this might be it. Sleep helps the immune system. Numerous studies have reported the benefits of a good night’s sleep, and now researchers from Germany have found that sound sleep improves immune cells known as T cells. “T cells are a type of… immune cells that fight against intracellular pathogens, for example virus-infected cells such as flu, HIV, herpes, and cancer cells,” Stoyan Dimitrov, PhD, a researcher at the University of Tübingen and an author of the study, told Healthline. The stu d y found a new mechanism through which sleep can assist the immune system. “We show that the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline (also known as epinephrine and norepinephrine) and pro-inflammatory molecules prostaglandins inhibit the stickiness of a class of adhesion molecules called integrin...