Part 1 A good night's sleep is often misunderstood as being continuous and unbroken, but according to the findings discussed in a recently published Medical Xpress article, this notion is a myth (Reynolds, et al., 2024, October 8).1 According to the article: Adults typically move through five or six sleep cycles during the night, each lasting about 90 minutes. These cycles consist of different stages of sleep: lighter stages, deeper stages, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Early in the night, deeper sleep stages are more common, while REM sleep, which is linked to dreaming, occurs more frequently later in the night. It's normal to wake up briefly at the end of each sleep cycle, meaning most people wake up several times during the night, even if they don’t remember it. This pattern is entirely healthy, especially as it becomes more common with age. What's considered to be a good night's sleep? A good night’s sleep typically involves falling asleep within around 30 minutes of getting into bed. While brief awakenings are normal, extended periods of wakefulness can disrupt sleep quality. Healthy sleep does not include long wakeful episodes in the night. The hallmark of good sleep is waking up feeling refreshed and energized, ready for the day. We shouldn't feel excessively sleepy during the day if we're getting around seven to nine hours of restful sleep per night. Conditions such as insomnia (which affects up to 25% of adults) and sleep apnea (20% of early adults and 40% of middle-aged people) can interfere with healthy sleep. These conditions may cause difficulty falling or staying asleep, or lead to excessive sleepiness during the day. Factors like noise, children, or pets waking us during the night can lead to more forced awakenings, making it harder to wake up refreshed. Chronic health issues (such as pain), medications, and irregular sleep schedules can negatively affect sleep quality. Waking up feeling unrested could also indicate that we’re not getting enough sleep, or that we need to consult a healthcare provider. As virtually every one of us has discovered, MC interferes with sleep. When active, microscopic colitis (MC) offers a variety of symptoms to interfere with sleep. Those who usually sleep on their stomach, such as me, soon learn to sleep on their back because of the severe bloating associated with MC. Although not everyone experiences pain with MC, those of us who do, tend to find it extremely difficult to lie in a comfortable position. No matter how we position ourselves, within a few minutes (or less) we feel compelled to move into a new position, which of course doesn't remain comfortable very long. And some of us have headaches, nausea, migraines, or other issues. During some nights, when my symptoms were at their worst, my nausea and migraines were so severe that I occasionally even had hallucinations during the night. Whether they were actually hallucinations or nightmares is debatable, because after a while, some of us become so sleep deprived, and our brains so groggy, that it's almost impossible for us to tell the difference. When my symptoms were that bad, even if I managed to get a little sleep during the night, in the morning when I dragged my aching body out of bed in order to rush to the bathroom in time, I felt as though I had literally been hit by a truck. Fortunately, after reaching remission, I could sleep normally, again. But when MC is active, all the knowledge in the world regarding quality sleep, is irrelevant for many of us, and that's probably true for many autoimmune diseases. Sleep deprivation is a worldwide problem. Although sleep is an essential pillar of good health, many people don't treat sleep with the priority it deserves. A study from Flinders University, published in Sleep Health, illustrates this counterproductive trend and its potential health consequences (Scott, et al., 2023).2 The study analyzed data from nearly 68,000 adults using in-home sleep trackers over nine months, and the data showed that:
It's well known that the health risks of insufficient or excessive sleep include:
A Nap Might Benefit Our Daily Routine, and Our Health One of the most persistent symptoms of MC is fatigue. And due to the slow healing characteristic of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in general, the fatigue often lasts as long as two years, or more. Back when my symptoms first became active, and slowly became more severe, I was trying to manage a business. The only times I ever took a nap during the day, were when I had a migraine that was so severe that it caused nausea, and I couldn't work until it subsided. Other than that, I never considered taking a nap. But maybe I should have, because I was always short of sleep. According to a recent online medical Xpress article, daytime naps can benefit almost anyone (Rath, 2025, January 13).3 Note that this article was not written for MC patients — it was written for the general public. The article lists several advantages of daily naps.
And there are health benefits of napping.
Obviously, as MC patients, we need all the help we can get to keep our immune system working properly. Guidelines offered by the article to maximize nap benefits include:
There are times when napping is especially useful.
Feeling overwhelmed is a common issue early on when we're trying to gain control over our MC symptoms. An afternoon nap might help to minimize that feeling. Reviewing: A good night's sleep is not an uninterrupted stretch of hours, but a dynamic and cyclical process. Normal sleep involves moving through different stages, with brief awakenings between cycles. What really defines good sleep is its quality, not just its duration—falling asleep within a reasonable time, staying asleep without long interruptions, and waking up refreshed. If we're not getting enough sleep at night, a brief afternoon nap can provide substantial benefits not only in our productivity, but also our health. References 1. Reynolds, A., Dunbar, C., Micic, G., Scott, H., and Lovato, N. (2024, October 8). An unbroken night's sleep is a myth. Here's what good sleep looks like. Medical Xpress, Retrieved from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-unbroken-night-myth-good.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter 2. Scott, H., Naik, G., Lechat, B., Manners, J., Fitton, J., Nguyen, D. P., . . . Eckert, D. J. (2023). Are we getting enough sleep? Frequent irregular sleep found in an analysis of over 11 million nights of objective in-home sleep data, Sleep Health, ISSN 2352-7218 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235272182300253X?via%3Dihub 3. Rath, S. (2025, January 13). How napping can boost your day, Medical Xpress, Retrieved from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-napping-boost-day.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
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