The Sleep, Crohn's, and Ulcerative Colitis Connection
Compared tohealthy individuals,those withinflammatory bowel disease(IBD):
Wake more frequently
Use moresleeping pills
Take longer to fall asleep
Have higher levels of tiredness
Have lower daytime energy levels
Suffer from poorer overall sleep quality
IBD may even be linked to sleep apnea;one study foundthat 13 percent of patients with IBD had obstructive sleep apnea.
Is Poor Sleep Linked to Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis?
A study published inClinical Gastroenterology and Hepatologyset out to identify the association between sleep and risk of incident Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
The prospective study involved female registered nurses who filled out a health questionnaire every other year.
在每个例程的问卷,参与者sked to self-report if they had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). Those who responded with a positive diagnosis for CD or UC were later sent a detailed questionnaire requesting additional information on:
Type of IBD
Treatment
Date of diagnosis
Disease behavior and complications
Participants who reported CD or UC were also asked to give permission for two board-certified gastroenterologists to review their medical records to confirm their diagnosis.
Routine questionnaires also asked participants how much sleep they got over the previous 24 hours. Those who responded were later asked to keep a sleep diary for one week.
The Link to Ulcerative Colitis
Researchers found that women who slept for six hours or less were one-and-a-half times more likely to have UC compared to women who got between seven and eight hours of sleep.
Interestingly, women with sleep durations of nine or more hours were twice as likely to have UC compared to those who slept for between seven and eight hours.
Results remained similar even after adjusting forsmoking,physical activity, dietary fiber intake, andBMI.
Sleep duration did not appear to influence the risk of developing CD.
The Link Between Sleep and IBD
TheClinical Gastroenterology and Hepatologystudy found that _s_leep health is closely linked to immune system health. Sleep deprivation has been found to reduce levels of interleukin-2, a signaling molecule that regulates the activities of white blood cells as part of the body's immune response.
T helper cells are another part of the body's immune system. Type 1 helper (Th1) cells are triggered by interleukin-2.Reduced levels of interleukin-2can favor Type 2 helper (Th2) cellswhichhave a more dominant role in the development of UC.
Finally, interleukin 6 regulates inflammation as part of the immune response.Studies have foundthat even short-term sleep deprivation can increase levels of interleukin 6, and thismay influence intestinal permeability.
The Importance of Sleep
So it appears that sleep issues can affect our risk of developing IBD, and this may be down to the influence sleep has on the body's inflammatory immune response.
However, IBD flares can also affect sleep;one study found82%的活跃IBD贫穷sleep quality compared to 51 percent of those with inactive IBD.
Poor Sleep May Exacerbate IBD Symptoms
One study foundthat those in clinical remission for CD were twice as likely to suffer a relapse at the six-month mark if they experienced impaired sleep.
Another study published in theAmerican Journal of Gastroenterologyfound that shorter sleep duration increased the medium and long-term risk for an UC flare.
Another, involving mice, found that acute and chronic intermittent sleep deprivation increased colonic inflammation.
How to Improve Sleep When Suffering From IBD
Melatonin supplements may help. Although human studies are hard to find,an experiment on mice with induced colitisfound that melatonin reduced the inflammatory effects of sleep deprivation.
This finding prompted the authors of that research to suggest that melatonin may help patients with inflammatory bowel disease, particularly if suffering from sleep deprivation.
A separate study may back this up.It found thatone in four patients with inflammatory bowel syndrome had an abnormal melatonin secretion profile.
Changing your career may help, too.One study of German employees from 1990 foundthat those who worked long or irregular hours were more likely to suffer from IBD compared to those who worked regular hours.
As stated by the authors of a 2013 study, it’snot current standard clinical practice to evaluate sleep disturbancesin those with IBD. This should change because, as the authors of that study argued, addressing sleep issues can help keep IBD in remission and even alter disease outcomes.
