Sleep is vital to everyday functioning, and consistently poor sleep quality can significantly affect even healthy individuals. For people with ME/CFS — who already contend with a wide array of debilitating symptoms — sleep disturbances can be particularly challenging. In fact, sleep difficulties are a common and frustrating feature of ME/CFS, with individuals reporting a […]
World Sleep Day, an annual event organised by the World Sleep Society, aims to raise awareness of sleep-related issues and promote better management of sleep disorders. This year’s theme, “Make Sleep Health a Priority,” highlights the importance of prioritising sleep for overall wellbeing. For individuals with ME/CFS, sleep disturbances are a core feature of the […]
World Sleep Day, an annual event organised by the World Sleep Day Committee, aims to raise awareness about sleep-related issues and promote better prevention and management of sleep disorders. This year’s theme, ‘Sleep Equity for Global Health’, highlights that ‘sleep is essential to health, but measurable differences in sleep health persist across populations across the […]
A new study from the USA, published in the journal Quality of Life Research, reports an investigation into sleep and pain problems in ME/CFS, finding that these symptoms are clearly related to the condition and that their severity can be measured using a standardised tool. The vast majority of ME/CFS sufferers report some level of sleep […]
Authors Jo Nijs, Marco L. Loggia, Andrea Polli, Maarten Moens, Eva Huysmans, Lisa Goudman, Mira Meeus, Luc Vanderweeën, Kelly Ickmans and Daniel Clauw Primary institution Department of Physiotherapy, Human Physiology and Anatomy, Pain in Motion International Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium Abstract Introduction The mechanism of sensitization of the central nervous system partly explains the […]
Authors Gotts ZM, Newton JL, Ellis JG, Deary V Institution Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK Publication British Journal of Health Psychology 2016 Feb 26; 21(1):71–92 Funding This work was supported by Action for ME, ME Research UK, and the ME Association Ramsay Research Fund Abstract Objectives Sleep disturbances are common […]
An article in the scientific journal, Sleep, has received wide media coverage. It showed that a lack of sleep, even in healthy young people, produces chemical changes in the brain similar to being hit hard on the head. Specifically, the young men tested had spikes in the molecules NSE and S-100B after the loss of just […]
Although antidepressant medications are not considered to be specific treatments for ME/CFS, antidepressants are nevertheless sometimes prescribed at low doses (i.e. at concentrations lower than those typically used to treat depression), mainly to aid sleep. It’s thought that small doses of these agents, usually tricyclic medications such as amitriptyline, help to normalise ‘sleep structure’ (which […]
Sleep problems affect many people with ME/CFS; in fact, one investigation of 1578 patients found that 92–94% reported sleep disturbances with a high degree of severity. Now, a new report in BMJ Open from the Centre for Sleep Research at Northumbria University has confirmed this and shown, in addition, that patients differ in the kinds […]
In narcoleptic sleep disorders, people feel excessively sleepy during the day, and may also fall asleep at inappropriate times. Treatments now consist of trying to improve the quality and depth of their sleep to restore the disrupted sleep pattern. But perhaps these therapies might also be helpful to people with ME/CFS? The question is pertinent […]
