Background:  I am 33 years old, happily married with six kids.  I am
5?8.5?, 150lbs.  I try to live a very healthy lifestyle.  I do high
intensity exercise for at least 25 minutes four times per week.  I eat
mostly whole grains, skim milk, legumes, nuts, fruits and vegetables
and very little meat, cheese or saturated fats.  I drink 10-13 oz of
red wine each evening.  I have no health problems and take no
medicines, including aspirin, Advil, cough medicine, ibuprofen or etc.
 I do take a multivitamin every day.  For the most part I have never
been very sick.  I did contract the West Nile Virus this summer and
was very sick for about three weeks.  During this time I did take some
Tylenol and Advil.  This was probably the first time in 15 years that
I had taken any medicine.  My resting heart rate is 45.  My blood
pressure is 100/50.  I generally go to bed between 8pm-9pm.  I wake
between 3am-5am.  I work out in the mornings and then go to work.  I
generally arrive at work between 5am-6am, and leave around 4pm.  I
live in a northern climate.

My Question/Concern:  If I do not get adequate sleep (7-8 hours), I
almost immediately (within a day) develop a cold.  This weekend is a
typical example.  I took three of our kids skiing on Saturday and
Sunday.  On Saturday I did not get adequate sleep at the hotel
(approx. 5.5 hours), and on Sunday our plane arrived very late and I
also got a similar amount of sleep.  Sunday I felt as though I had a
slight sore throat.  Monday I awoke with a sore throat and nasal
congestion.  Today, Tuesday, it?s more of the same.  This same
scenario happens every time I go outside of my routine and do not get
adequate sleep.    Shouldn?t my body be able to handle this without
developing a cold?  Am I harboring some type of virus that never goes
away?  Could there be something very wrong with my immune system?

Concerning your answer:  I am an engineer and am very partial to hard
data.  I do not mind if you do not give me a definitive answer, but
instead provide information and facts supporting multiple
possibilities (with links to supporting studies/statistics).  I am not
much of a believer in supplements or natural home remedies so PLEASE
do not tell me that I should ?take xxx herb, or yyy extract, or etc?
unless you have a published, peer reviewed study to back it up (i.e.
published in a respected journal or equivalent and should at the very
least be referenced in Medline).

Do you take a zinc supplement? Zinc has been proven to boost the immune system.

Psychosomatic - Basically, you talked yourself into it.  Why?  I can
only guess but reading over your question and the detail of it - how
else could you convince anyone that has 6 kids that this routine of
your's is THAT necessary.

If I had 6 kids, your routine would be an escape.  An escape I would
need.  Don't know anything about you, nothing - So more than likly I'm
blowing wind out of my but*, but it seems to me physical health has
very little to do with it and a lot to do with mental health.

My dearest father was an engineer, so I lived with the "by the
numbers" stuff - Personally, the "by the numbers" stuff only works
with stuff...  Does not work very well with thinking, living people
who have 6 kids.

Good luck - I'm sorry if I am so off base that you get upset.  It's
just an opinion - and may not be worth much.  But.....  :)

Thanks for the feedback.  I do not take a zinc supplement although the
multivitamin I take has 100% of the RDA for zinc.  Some studies seem
to question the effectiveness of zinc: 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9643859
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10801968
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11692298

Because of concern that long term this could be harmful, I do not take zinc.

Pyschosomatic- Could be I suppose - although I usually think of myself
as invincible health wise and have no other health problems.  I'd
expect this to carry over into other things.  Thanks.

The frequency of your symptoms makes me think of an allergy rather
than a series of colds.

I have no allergies that I know of.

Do you know if allergy symptons flare in response to lack of sleep?

I feel exactly like I have a cold.  Are allergy symptons that similar
to a cold for some people?

It seems not.  But insofar as lack of sleep may mimic psychological
stress (in that the former is often a symptom of the latter, but not
in your case) you might check out these links.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9619470

and

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1713648

Very interesting links - thanks.  It seems like there is almost always
one of our kids with a cold.  In fact right now, two have colds.  I
found it very interesting that in the study up to 90% of the subjects
developed infection and almost 50% developed clinical colds after
exposure.  I would guess that I'm almost always being exposed to cold
viruses so perhaps its not so abnormal that I get a cold when I get
slightly run down?

I am very intrigued by the possibility of it being an allergy.  I have
noted that after eating a particular dish that I love, it seems that I
almost always catch a cold.  The dish is hummus.  We prepare it as
follows:

1 can chick peas (14oz)
1 bulb Garlic (entire bulb)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2c tahini paste
1/2c olive oil

I can't imagine I'm alergic to garlic, we use an entire bulb in
numerous dishes, and from the superficial research I did cold like
symptoms do not seem to fit with allergies to garlic.  Perhaps the
tahini?  Is anyone familiar with an allergy to sesame seeds that gives
cold like symptoms?

Here's some information on tahini/sesame seed allergy.  Be sure to
click on the links at the bottom of the article for more:

http://www.food-allergens.de/symposium-3-2/sesame/sesame-abstract.html

http://www.pharmj.com/pdf/articles/pj_20011124_sesame.pdf

Thanks.  I was unable however to load any links from the first
document because a user name and password were required.  Were you
able to load them?

YES ... An allergy is the prime suspect!

And you will never know unless you get fully tested.

Maybe dust or carpet mites ...

They are little sods.

I couldn't work out from your question if you're the mother or the
father in this family. If you are the mother, and at age 33, you've
had 6 pregnancies and work out and work full time, I would suggest
that you're exhausted despite all your efforts at eating properly,
exercising and 'in control' attitude etc. So if one single thing goes
awry, such as missing out on your sleep, you will suffer immediate
consequences.

I'm purposely *not* sending you any references because, from this tiny
insight into your life, I truly believe that your need for 'hard data'
is part of the problem and is allowing you to justify your closed mind
other people's suggestions of help. It is possible to be too clever,
too informed and too 'in control' when it comes to one's body.

I truly don't mean to offend, but just a friendly bit of advice... in
your efforts at obtaining "by the numbers" stuff, don't forget to
listen to your inner voice and the wisdom of unqualified friends and
family who might care about you. Ask your kids to tell you why they
think you're not well. You might be surprised at their insights!

To get natural, healthy, sound sleep, here's a completely unfounded,
unmedical suggestion. Do you have Horlicks in your part of the world?
It's a malt powder that you add to warm milk and it's reputed to help
one sleep (maybe it's high in tryptophan). Get some and give yourself
some nurturing and allow yourself the incredible luxury of relaxing
and being ordinary.

Thanks for the comment.  I'm the father.  I actually have no trouble
falling asleep, or staying asleep.  My wife will attest to this.  She
actually does have trouble and is up with the kids much more often
than I.  The problem is occassionaly I do not have enough time to get
the amount of sleep I require.  I will mention the product you wrote
about to my wife.

I am fairly convinced that it is not an allergy and is a cold.  The
discharge from my nose, as well as the mucus I cough up is very dark
green in color.  I am under the impression that it would not be so if
this were an allergy.

Compare your blood pressure to the perfect blood pressure of 113 over 70.

I gave your problem a little more thought and came up with this.  No
hard data, just a thought that you can, if you're willing, prove.  And
it will be easy.  But, I will bet, you'll hate it. :)

It could be you are overtraining.  You have the exact balance set up
between working out like a crazy man and recuperative sleep.  When
that balance is upset, by not getting enough sleep your body reacts.

Now to prove this, stop working out for a few weeks. Let your body
completely heal itself from the overtraining.  If you get depressed,
then it's a safe bet that you have overtrained.  Why? edorphins, which
I'm sure you know about.

After two weeks, let's say, randomly pick days to sleep only 6 hours.
If you wake up and are "normal" then you have more proof of your
overtraining.

Now something very interesting is going to happen if you are
overtraining and take off two weeks.  When you go back to working out
- you will be stronger.

And now a question:  Why don't you take an aspirin a day given the
hard data on it health benefits?  I have my reasons for not doing it,
I was wondering about yours.

Thanks for the suggestions.  I really am only exercising 4 days a week
for 25 minutes so I can't imagine this would qualify as overtraining. 
But I'll definitely consider it.

Concerning asprin, I am leary of taking in medications.  For asprin in
particular, I would not think the trade off of an increased risk of
bleeding ulcers for decreased risk of heart attack would make much
sense given my age, exercise habits, and good eating habits.  Also I
would be slightly concerned about the blood thinning effects.  I
already get dizzy sometimes if I stand up quickly.  I was told this is
due to my low heart rate.  I would guess that this would be made worst
by asprin.

Thanks.

Concerning my blood pressure:  I have been told that my high pulse
pressure (difference between systolic and diastolic which usually is
between 50-60 for me) is due to my low heart rate.  This is described
briefly here: http://www.coheadquarters.com/PennLibr/MyPhysiology/lect8/bp19.htm

But I have always been concerned that this is not the case and is
indicative of inelastic vessles and a predictor of a future heart
attack.  I hope this is not the case.  Does anyone have any insight on
this?

Hi, zxyw

Yesterday, my BP was 105/62 and my Pulse Rate 49.

My doc (who really knows her stuff) reckons this is OK.

I got into the habit of getting up at 5 a.m. years ago when I was
studying - trying to cram a 12 month course into 3 months - which I
did.

I found that I liked it and I came to consider it normal, for me.

I am told that allergies can hit you at any time but that once you
have sussed them out then they can be controlled.

If I were you I would not worry about the heart stuff or the early
morning regime ... Neither has done me any harm (as far as I know).

Good Health!

Bryan

Yes I also am quite used to getting up early and seem to have no
trouble with it.  I appreciate your feedback.

Overtraining can come from many different causes.  Diet for one.  When
I was into heavy lifting, depending on my diet, it could take forever
to heal from a workout.

You might think about increasing your cals per day by, maybe, 1000.  I
can read your mind -- :) if you are overtraining you will not be
putting on weight. Your body will take those cals and use them to
repair any damage.

If your cal intake is to low - your body can be in a constant state of
overtraining.  Given your size and weight and workout you should be
taking in approx. 3000 cals a day.

How many cals do you take in a day?

zyxw - just found your thread..
Here's a hard data aphorism
"association does not prove causation"
Sleep may very well have little to do with what you're experiencing.
You don't give a frequency for your colds over time but the
example you give including "children", "hotel" & "plane" screams
'proximity' & "exposure' to me.  If you think it feels like a cold
and not an allergy, then I believe you.. There are hundreds of
rhinoviruses out there & travel is the best way to contract new
ones.  Also children, bless their little hearts, are a cesspool of
contagion.  Given that your breaks in routine that seem to correlate with
a subsequent cold will, no doubt, include these factors again, I don't
see any alternative but to live with it.  Dehydration, from planes or exercise,
will improve your chances of catching something - stay well hydrated.
Diet-wise, I'd add something leafy with high iron if you're not disposed toward
flesh. Also, don't let anyone criticize aspirin.  It's an amazing
drug, cheap like rocks and may save your life.  You want to be around for those
6 kids, and their kids, and their...  An 81 mg (low dose) enteric
coated (if it makes you feel better) aspirin a day gives you the greatest
cost-benefit of any product on the market.  Probably won't help with the
colds, though.

I appreciate the comment.  You are correct, my evidence is anecdotal
and the cause I gave may not correlate at all.  I have not recorded
the frequency of my colds, my level of sleep prior to getting colds,
or really anything about my health.  As such I am just working from
memory which could be way off base.  I will start recording for
sometime just to see how well they correlate.

I am reluctanct to start aspirin but I will definitely reconsider this.

Thanks.

I am reading over your comments , it seems you are very in control of
your heath and mind,  . . . but on the same note your perfect ways can
be a downfall, even when you are not aware of it mentally. I may be
off but you can't have a perfect control over who and what you are,
without balance.  No one can get away with perfection. My guess would
be that you have a emotional longing to have things in excessive order
, but lurking beneath the surface is you mind\body attempt to bring
balance. Remeber what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Quite
possibly this could be the result of years of have a prefect heath. So
basically your "physical body" has been trained and perfected , but
your immune system has been on the couch watching tv.

"My guess would be that you have a emotional longing to have things in
excessive order"

True but overall I think this keeps me healthier.

I agree, that perhaps my immune system is not that great, but I what I
want to know is whether that's true.  Perhpas their is no answer.

My Question/Concern:  If I do not get adequate sleep (7-8 hours), I
almost immediately (within a day) develop a cold.

How about this, set up a failure test.  Make an appointment for a
complete health physical, let us say in two weeks.  Do your normal
routine,  then on the day before the physical, sleep 6 hours.  They
will check your white blood count and tell you if it's normal.

Good suggestion - I may try this.

Thanks for the suggestions.  I have been thinking that it may be
totally normal since I'm usually around some type of virus.  Its good
to hear that from someone else.

Perhaps you might consider reducing your daily intake of wine to 6 oz.
or less. A little is good, however 10-13 oz., day after day, may be
borderline toxic.

Concerning: "A little is good, however 10-13 oz., day after day, may be
borderline toxic."  Do you have data or studies you can site to
support this?  I have been concerned by this but all the studies I
have read suggest two glasses of wine for men (or 10oz) and one glass
of wine for woman (I am a man).  In fact this is what the 2005 Dietary
Guidelines recommend (see:
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/pdf/Chapter9.pdf).
  I never drink more than 10-13 oz per day.