As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, sowing anxiety and worry along with it, getting a healthy amount of sleep probably isn’t as easy as it used to be, reports Healthline.

And getting good sleep is more important now than ever. “We know that sleep is directly related to immunity in terms of the physiological response in our body: If we’re not sleeping we can reduce our immune system, we can increase inflammation in the body, which we know can then lead to being more vulnerable to various viruses or whatever might be in our environment,” Brittany LeMonda, PhD, a senior neuropsychologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City told Healthline.

In other words, your quality of sleep plays a direct role in your body’s ability to keep you safe from the novel coronavirus.

Get the full story at healthline.com.