I've always had dark circles under my eyes and have just thought it was lack of vitamins or I wasn't getting enough sleep. Then I came acrossed a FB sign that made me research more. Because we all know, everything you see on the internet is true.
★Did you know our sleep patterns actually are affected by Cystic Fibrosis?
According to my research the reason is actually simple. With our lungs needing to work harder than the average person we are actually getting less sleep. Patients may be predisposed to poor sleep quality due to upper and lower airway complications.
Resulting in fatigue, loss of REM sleep, lack of memory, reduced lung functioning, learning disability, language dysfunction, mood swings, and sometimes even lower intelligence. Due to lack of oxygen being transported to your brain properly.
★I am the first to admit I have chunks of my life I simply do not remember, when I don't sleep well, I will bite your head off if I feel the need to, and my learning curve lets just say is not at the highest.
The more severe your CF the greater the impact with sleep can be. Making oxygen levels drop during sleep without you noticing right away. Which can be scary yet nothing to worry about right away and is fixable.
— Adding oxygen can help with your O2 levels and helping with sleep amung CFers.
People with CF breathe a lot harder during sleep. This could be one reason why we have trouble gaining weight. For tips on weight gain please read Weight Gain and CF
★Something I would have never put together.
— Appetite is regulated by the interaction between metabolic and hormonal signals and neural mechanisms. In layman's terms these chemical reactions change if you are having trouble sleeping. These changes will effect if we are hungry or not. Making it difficult to want to eat the high calories we need to maintain weight.
★Ways to help with sleep patterns
— First, recognize that sleep is essential to good health and daytime functioning for anyone "healthy" or not.
— Maintain a sleep routine that maximizes the chance to sleep roughly 9-10 hours a night. With these complications we need extra sleep to keep up with everything our bodies go through daily.
— Make a regular bedtime and wake time, avoid caffeine, TV, computers, and other distractions at bed time.
★In other words, do not stay up at all hours of the night writing CF blogs. Guilty!
— Address changes of sleep or lack of sleep with your CF team.
— Address changes of sleep or lack of sleep with your CF team.
★Lack of sleep in Cystics can also cause,
◦ Headaches after waking up.
◦ Excessive daytime sleepiness.
◦ High hemoglobin or heart problems.
★Not to mention the side effects of medications we take daily having an impact on our sleeping habits. For medication for a Cystic please read CF Meds & Nebs.
Important to remember sleep loss can have a significant impact on the quality of life, appetite and even possibly glucose control of a CFer.
Learning Everyday,
Sandi
Sandi
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