Some people are like immune to any type of virus.
Researchers have now found out why this is.
Those who follow the following rules could also protect themselves against Covid-19.
There are actually people who allow themselves to be infected with pathogens in the service of science.
As in the area of drug tests, however, the financial aspect also plays a role for voluntary study participants: there is often a generous reward.
Without these volunteers, scientists would not be able to implement the "Common Cold Project". The goal of the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh: They want to find out why some people defy viruses - and why others get sick immediately.
The surprising findings of the scientists:
Even the smallest changes in lifestyle reduce the risk of getting sick
.
Do you also know someone who is never sick?
Can't you really explain how something like this can work?
These and similar questions could also have plagued the US researchers who launched the "Common Cold Project". Since 2011, the project has been creating a database that includes data from five large studies on viral diseases As part of the studies, volunteers were given cold and flu viruses *
as well as widespread but harmless coronaviruses
and the condition of the test subjects was closely monitored. What was particularly exciting for the researchers was that, depending on the virus, an infection was detectable in 70 to 85 percent of the study participants, however, only 25 to 40 percent developed symptoms such as a sore throat.
When analyzing the lifestyle of the study participants, the researchers quickly noticed that there were immense differences - the effects of which, in the eyes of the study author Sheldon Cohen, can also be transferred to
Covid-19
.
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Makes you susceptible to illness: Little sleep, little exercise, a lot of alcohol, a lot of stress
For example, a group of test persons was examined to find out how dropping rhinoviruses into their noses would affect their health.
Those who had slept less than seven hours a night two weeks earlier were three times as likely to develop a cold compared to late risers, who got an average of eight hours of sleep a night.
Also noticeable:
the study participants who did sport less than twice a week fell ill twice as often as the more sporty subjects
.
And the researchers also have bad news for friends of the daily glass of red wine: Those who drink alcohol less than once a day also get sick less often, as Spektrum.de quotes the study.
The researchers' explanation: Those who rarely drink alcohol could reduce inflammatory reactions - which also has a positive effect on the Covid 19 risk.
And not only little exercise and sleep as well as alcohol consumption should increase the risk of colds:
Chronic stress
must also be avoided at all costs, as psychologist Cohen explains in his study published on the specialist portal Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Those who reported chronic stress in the experiment were more likely to get sick from the administered viruses.
These test subjects then also had increased levels of cytokines in their blood, markers of inflammation
that also play a key role in coronavirus infections.
(jg) * Merkur.de belongs to the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editorial network
.
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List of rubric lists: © Jan Woitas / dpa
