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| weight gain, faster breakdown of protein and reduced immunity, bone density, thyroid function and protein synthesis. And, the more unrestorative the sleep, the harder it becomes to sleep at all. For one thing, low adrenal cortisol levels interfere with normal rhythms of sleeping and waking. Also, lack of sleep disrupts the HPA axis and sets up a vicious cycle of continued poor sleep. Levels of the pituitary ACTH and the adrenal cortisol drop. This was seen in a group of nurses after only five days of poor sleep following their switch to a night shift. After observing this, the researchers of this study concluded that problems with the nervous and hormonal systems in CFS may be the "consequence of disrupted sleep and social routine." 12 |
| A trouble spot with CFS is the hormone melatonin, which promotes the onset of sleep. Produced by the brain's pineal gland, melatonin needs to correlate with time of day and lowered body temperature as a person drops into sleep. If this does not happen, sleep and waking time are thrown off as a person falls out of synch with rhythms of day and night. It is suspected that disruption in the HPA axis causes this in CFS. Since light hitting the retina signals the pineal gland to slow melatonin production, simply being less active or staying indoors out of the sunlight when feeling tired and sick can disrupt pineal gland actions and the sleep cycle.13 |
| It may be that people with CFS do not produce enough melatonin in the first place. Its precursor is the brain chemical serotonin, which in turn is derived from the amino acid tryptophan. Unfortunately, several amino acids, especially tryptophan and phenylalanin, tend to be unusually low in those with CFS. Simply providing patients with a supplement of the eight essential amino acids improved CFS symptoms |
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