charles shepherd
Senior Member
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We all need 5 hours of uninterrupted deep sleep each night……….
The research findings below, from a group at John Hopkins University USA, which are described in this press report, are nothing new:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...d-Study-says-s-interrupted-sleep-does-it.html
....but they do emphasise the fact that the human brain needs a period of solid uninterupted deep sleep (not just rest) every twenty four hours if it is going to function effectively the next day
Deep sleep refers to what is termed slow wave dreamless sleep where the muscles and brain relax
And if healthy normal people only have short periods of interrupted deep sleep - as is the case with people looking after new born babies in this study - they feel progressively more fatigued and have poor mental functioning the next day
Which means that in the case of ME/CFS, this type of sleep disturbance is going to exacerbate mental and physical fatigue as well as hampering any natural improvement that may be occurring
So management of sleep disturbance - using both self help measures and sometimes drug treatments - plays a key role in the management of ME/CFS
The MEA Ramsay Research Fund has been funding research into sleep abnormalities and management in ME/CFS at the University of Northumbria
This paper from the group describes how sleep disturbaces in ME/CFS might be sub-grouped/phenotyped as an aid to sleep management and why it is so important to consider the possibility of a primary sleep disorder - eg sleep apnoea - in people with ME/CFS who have a more severe sleep disturbance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669720/
The Medical Research Council is currently funding a study at Imperial College, London, which is looking at slow wave sleep disturbance in ME/CFS and the use of a drug called sodium oxybate, which enhances slow wave sleep:
http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/search/StudyDetail.aspx?StudyID=16324
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA
The research findings below, from a group at John Hopkins University USA, which are described in this press report, are nothing new:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...d-Study-says-s-interrupted-sleep-does-it.html
....but they do emphasise the fact that the human brain needs a period of solid uninterupted deep sleep (not just rest) every twenty four hours if it is going to function effectively the next day
Deep sleep refers to what is termed slow wave dreamless sleep where the muscles and brain relax
And if healthy normal people only have short periods of interrupted deep sleep - as is the case with people looking after new born babies in this study - they feel progressively more fatigued and have poor mental functioning the next day
Which means that in the case of ME/CFS, this type of sleep disturbance is going to exacerbate mental and physical fatigue as well as hampering any natural improvement that may be occurring
So management of sleep disturbance - using both self help measures and sometimes drug treatments - plays a key role in the management of ME/CFS
The MEA Ramsay Research Fund has been funding research into sleep abnormalities and management in ME/CFS at the University of Northumbria
This paper from the group describes how sleep disturbaces in ME/CFS might be sub-grouped/phenotyped as an aid to sleep management and why it is so important to consider the possibility of a primary sleep disorder - eg sleep apnoea - in people with ME/CFS who have a more severe sleep disturbance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669720/
The Medical Research Council is currently funding a study at Imperial College, London, which is looking at slow wave sleep disturbance in ME/CFS and the use of a drug called sodium oxybate, which enhances slow wave sleep:
http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/search/StudyDetail.aspx?StudyID=16324
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA
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