Home

Insomnia and poor sleep

The inability to sleep or sleep deeply is a common symptom of chronic inflammatory disease and can be exacerbated during periods of immunopathologyA temporary increase in disease symptoms experienced by Marshall Protocol patients that results from the release of cytokines and endotoxins as disease-causing bacteria are killed.. Restful sleep can help a patient to cope with other symptoms. It is not necessary to get all one's restful sleep at night. In fact, if a patient can, sleeping during the day may give him or her enough energy to accomplish any responsibilities for the day.

Management of insomnia

  • Maintain a routine – establish a regular daily routine, arising at the same time and retiring at the same time.
  • Take a nap in the early afternoon – if nighttime sleep is brief, nap in the afternoon when there is a natural period of increased sleepiness. There is no shame in taking a nap.
  • Practice relaxation techniques – do relaxation techniques for 30 to 60 minutes, which can be beneficial even if you do not sleep.
  • Make the bedroom pitch black – do not use nightlights and ensure bedroom windows are completely light proof.
  • Remove the TV from the bedroom and avoid light after a certain time – According to a recent study, exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppresses melatonin levels and may impact physiologic processes regulated by melatonin signaling, such as sleepiness, thermoregulation, blood pressure and glucose homeostasis.1)

Sleep medications

Main article: Sleep medications

Patients considering the Marshall Protocol (MP) may already be taking medications that help improve their sleep. No sleep remedies are specifically contraindicated on the Marshall Protocol. They should be considered temporary palliative aides and used judiciously only as needed.

Like many drugs, sleep medications can act in immunomodulatory ways, sometimes in ways that have yet to be fully understood. Although the ultimate goal of someone using sleep medications is to discontinue their use, consistent sleep of a minimum quality is essential. In so far as sleep medications may aid MP patients in achieving improved sleep, they are not contraindicated.

Those of us who do not need to force our body to be sleeping at certain times should not be taking drugs to do so. I recall that my sleep patterns varied widely as I recovered, and still do, depending on how hard I am working. Sleeping when you feel tired, as long as you wake refreshed, should be the goal. If you don't wake refreshed then close your eyes and nod off again [if you can].

Trevor Marshall, PhD

Patient interviews

<html> <div class=“patientinterviews”>

<html> <div class=“patientinterviewboxl”> <div class=“patientinterviewimage”></html><html></div> <div class=“patientinterviewtext”> <div class=“patientinterviewname”></html>Guss Wilkinson<html></div></html>

sarcoidosis, psoriasis, insomnia, kidney stones

Read the interview

<html></div></div>

<div class=“patientinterviewboxr”> <div class=“patientinterviewimage”></html><html></div> <div class=“patientinterviewtext”> <div class=“patientinterviewname”></html>Paul Albert<html></div></html>

chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), depression, food sensitivities, insomnia

Read the interview

<html></div></div>

<br clear=“left” />

</div> </html>

Interviews of patients with other diseases are also available.

Patients experiences

My sleep improved very early in the Protocol. I felt that I generally got to sleep quicker and slept more deeply. My sleep is now very normal, with good quality sleep and few wake ups during the night. If I do wake up, I rarely have trouble falling straight back to sleep. Dreaming is also regular but I don’t move in my sleep. This is something I seem to have lost along the way and I wake up to turn over.

Vicki SA, after two years on the MP, MarshallProtocol.com

I use a CD by Stephen Halpern called Sleep Soundly. I have played this CD as I go to sleep for several years now and it has really helped my insomina.

Joy, MarshallProtocol.com

Benicar made my insomnia much worse at first. I just toughed it out, and my sleep is absolutely fabulous now after years of insomnia before the MP.

Shamutooth, MarshallProtocol.com

I too experienced weeks of insomnia which was not a problem for me before or since: so obviously a case of severe immunopathology. Thankfully it was not painful as was much of my IP at that time, so I did not worry about it, just lay there thinking, sometimes with soft music to listen to, or reading when my husband was away.

Sallie Q, MarshallProtocol.com

I hadn't been able to fall asleep naturally for over 40 years. I started taking tranquilizers at age 19 to enable me to sleep. Within the past 5 years (prior to the MP), I was needing more and more medication to enable me to sleep. From the moment I would wake up in the AM, I would be thinking about the next night's sleep. In all this time, especially the last 10 years (prior to MP) I never woke up feeling refreshed. I was taking so many sleep meds that it was probably dangerous. I was in a constant state of exhaution.

Now, 2.5 years into the MP and I am falling asleep quite naturally and waking up refreshed. It was a gradual change so it's impossible to pinpoint the exact time this happened, but I believe there was a steady and gradual improvement after I had been on MP for one year. It is wonderful to be able to fall asleep, wake up for my Benicar, and roll over and fall asleep again. If it has happened for me, it will work for anyone, I am convinced.

Aunt Diana, MarshallProtocol.com

===== Notes and comments =====

broken link described here

  • Legacy content
    • f291

In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe due to instability in the respiratory control center. Central sleep apnea is usually observed in patients with central nervous system dysfunction, such as following a stroke or in patients with neuromusclular diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

https://stereopsis.com/flux/research.html

started using the f.lux program after Claire posted about it last Fall. I just use a more low and less low setting for the “day” and “night” time frames. I do think it's possible it helps me feel sleepy around 9pm… but I rarely give in and go to bed at that point.

The warmer colors are nice in any case. Joyful

NEW LIST TO REVIEW FOR IMPROVING CURRENT ARTICLE:

Follow these steps to get a better night's rest:

  • Do not eat or drink heavily for three hours before bedtime. Avoid alcohol in the evening, and caffeine for 12 hours before bedtime.
  • Don't nap, unless you're 65 or older. Then, limit your nap to 30 minutes.
  • Get 30 minutes of exercise each day, preferably in the late afternoon or early evening.
  • Relax before bed. Try taking a warm bath or reading.
  • Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool.
  • Make sure your mattress is neither too soft nor too firm. Use body pillows to improve your position.
  • To avoid clock-watching, remove or cover the clock, or place it under the bed.
  • Use your bed for sleep and sex only. Do not eat, watch TV, use your computer or mobile device, or talk on the phone while in bed.
  • Get up at the same time every day, even on holidays and weekends.

Check article to see if it needs an added reminder about driver safety.

  "Driver sleepiness is associated with 20 percent of serious car accidents." 
  https://www.journalsleep.org/viewabstract.aspx?pid=27780

===== References =====

1)
Gooley JJ, Chamberlain K, Smith KA, Khalsa SBS, Rajaratnam SMW, Van Reen E, Zeitzer JM, Czeisler CA, Lockley SW. Exposure to room light before bedtime suppresses melatonin onset and shortens melatonin duration in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Mar;96(3):E463-72. doi: 10.1210/jc.2010-2098. Epub 2010 Dec 30.
[PMID: 21193540] [PMCID: 3047226] [DOI: 10.1210/jc.2010-2098]
home/symptoms/neurological/sleep.txt · Last modified: 09.14.2022 by 127.0.0.1
© 2015, Autoimmunity Research Foundation. All Rights Reserved.