# Sleep and IBS



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

FYIoor Sleep Exacerbates Symptoms inWomen With Irritable Bowel SyndromeWESTPORT, May 30 (Reuters Health) - Gastrointestinalsymptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) aresignificantly more severe in women with sleep disturbancesthan in those without such disturbances, according to a reportpublished in the May issue of Digestive Diseases andSciences. It appears "that poor sleep leads to higher gastrointestinalsymptoms on the following day among women with IBS," Dr.Monica Jarrett, and colleagues at the University of Washington,in Seattle, say in the journal. The team examined the link between gastrointestinal symptomsand poor sleep in 82 women with IBS and 35 controls. Theyused a combination of 7-day recall and daily diary recallmethods to test this association during a 2-month period. Women with IBS had "considerably higher levels" of sleepingdifficulties than controls. During the study, approximately 25%of the IBS women described themselves as having sleepdisturbances. Between women, the severity of sleep disturbance was stronglyand significantly correlated with the severity of gastrointestinalsymptoms. This was also the case in individual women, butwas weaker and significant only in women with IBS. These two relationships remained significant even afteradjusting for measures of psychological stress, the investigatorsnote. However, this adjustment reduced the strength of the linkbetween sleep disturbance and gastrointestinal symptomsbetween women. The fact that psychological distress did not confound thewithin-woman link between poor sleep and gastrointestinalsymptoms supports "the possibility of a causal relationshipbetween sleep disturbance and the exacerbation ofgastrointestinal symptoms," Dr. Jarrett and colleagues say. Inaddition, a temporal analysis of the data shows that poor sleepon a single night leads to significantly increased symptoms onthe following day, while increased symptoms on a particularday do not appear to cause sleep disturbances that night. Dig Dis Sci 2000;45:952-959. ------------------ http://webpotential.com/ericibs/index.htm


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## JeanG (Oct 20, 1999)

Hi Eric:This is an interesting article. It may explain why I get D on Mondays. I never can sleep on Sunday nights, and when I do it's broken up. I might keep a sleep diary for a while and see if I find any correlation.







JeanG


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## sickofsick (Nov 4, 1999)

Thanks Eric, This is very interesting to me as I have had a lot of sleeping difficulties lately and it so happens my IBS is worse lately too.sickofsick


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## Mio (Dec 19, 1999)

Thanks Eric,interesting article! I have sleeping problems and have had that since I was a child. My IBS symptoms gets much worse if a get no sleep. /Mio


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## HipJan (Apr 9, 1999)

Yup, true! 'Twas the case with me just last night/this morning. Too much serotonin, too little serotonin; either affects us negatively! For women, hormonal fluctuations also can play a big role in terms of sleep disturbances and IBS.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Here is some more info on sleep and IBS. I believe for most people your IBS symptoms are better with a good nights rest.







But FYI on sleep. http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/008575.html ------------------ http://webpotential.com/ericibs/index.htm


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## NancyCat (Jul 16, 1999)

Interesting article Eric. I DEFINATELY think that if I don't get a good nights sleep or if it is broken up to much it makes my IBS worse. If I wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for any length of time my stomach "wakes up" too







Not a good thing at 3 AM.------------------Nancy


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## Guest (May 30, 2000)

I can relate to this, Eric - although I have no problem with sleep in general, I have noticed that I invariably have IBS problems the day after deliberately staying up late into the night for chat!







Trouble is, I'm hooked!







Julie


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## kbaum (Dec 11, 1999)

Some of you may recall me posting about this trigger for me - I can practically set my watch by having a bad morning, then D at 3:00 pm the day after having less than 7 hours sleep. My family and friends find it very funny that I go to bed so early (about 8:00 pm on "nonchat" days) but it's one of the only ways I can feel even remotely decent the next day (barring no other obstacles, like trigger foods, etc).


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## wanderingstar (Dec 1, 1999)

It's all just *so* true! If I don't get 10 hours sleep a night, my IBS is noticably more troublesome. I had a disrupted night's sleep last night and have had more cramping and D today than in a while. I'm so glad this board exists - I'm starting to realise that it's not just me with my quirky reasons for worse/better IBS which my dad says 'well it's all very strange to me sweetie, it doesn't make sense'. AARGH!! =)


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## Guest (May 31, 2000)

Thanks for the verification of what I alwaysthought...it's so very true!


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## Guest (May 31, 2000)

Eric Thanks for the article. I'm new to this board but in 2 days it has truly educated me!


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## JeanG (Oct 20, 1999)

Bumping this up for tjr64628.







JeanG


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