Fibromyalgia Update January 2010

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Lewis Reports- Fibromyalgia Update.
January, 2010.

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If you have read our monthly HealtheLetter you will know that the theme for this month is sleep. We will continue the theme here.

See why we chose this photo at the bottom of the page.

Fibromyalgia and sleep: What is the food connection?

Getting adequate sleep is one of the best health promoting strategies for individuals with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

Sleep is a complex mind and body process.  One key aspect that drives the chemistry of the body is nutrition.

In regard to food and sleep we need to consider among other things

•  The timing of meals
•  The nutrient value of food ingested.

Some facts 

A large meal at night stimulates many physiological processes and does not lead to relaxation.

Food is required for nutrition and energy and therefore eating a big meal before going to bed, a time when the energy requirements of the body are low may well contribute to weight gain.

The time to eat food for maximum nutritional and energy usage is before the energy requirements are required. That is earlier in the day.

On the other hand it is important not to go to sleep hungry as the brain and does require enough energy good quality of sleep.

Getting this balance is not difficult in theory. Simply aim to eat a small nutritious meal at night and observe the effects.

However the challenge for most of us living the "full on" life we do is to have our main meal ealier in the day and a smaller meal at night.

For more on good sleep if you have not done so already please read our posting in our recent HealtheLetter .

Sleep is a complex mind and body process.   This question will be further addressed in our next seminar.  Here are the details.

          Saturday afternoon FEB 6 2010, 2:00 – 4:00pm

                      MEDITATION

Good Sleep... Good Health

In this very practical seminar participants will experience mind/body techniques for improved sleep and quality of life.  The presenters, rheumatologist, Dr Daniel Lewis and clinical hypnotherapist, Bill Patterson have a  commitment that you will leave the seminar deeply relaxed and with new skills.

Some of the seminar topics.

• Teaching the mind to sleep well
• Lightening the allostatic* load (harmful stress)
• Relationship of sleep-pain-memory-thought coherence (and how to improve all of these vital functions)     
• and more 

For details of the seminar click here.

RECENT RESEARCH ARTICLES

Gastric Refux is a frequent symptom that effects sleep. Eating late makes esophageal reflux worse.  Thirty patients with gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) symptoms were randomly assigned to consume a standard meal either six hours or two hours prior to going to bed. The next night they consumed the same meal at the alternate time. Acid secretion in the stomach was measured for 48 hours using a Bravo wireless pH system.

The mean amount of supine acid reflux was significantly greater after the late evening meal than after the earlier evening meal.  (p = 0.002). There was no significant difference in total symptom score between the two days.

LI comment: The results of this study indicate that, if you have reflux you need to reduce the amount of the evening meal and do not eat too close to bedtime.

Source: Piesman M, et al. Nocturnal reflux episodes following the administration of a standardized meal. Does timing matter? Am I Gastroenterol. 2007;102:2128_2134.

Art and Health.
I have always been interested in the use of art and photography to illustrate health messages.  Art speaks to the right side of our brain and therefore we take in the visual messages in a different way.

The photo above was taken in the west of Tasmania : When you are hiking in the wilderness it is helpful to follow the correct path.   This is the same message for those with FM and CFS.

We would be very happy to receive any art or photos which illustrate a health message.

The Wellbeing Shop