Morris, Gerwyn, Stubbs, Brendon, Köhler, Cristiano A et al. · Sleep medicine reviews · 2018 · DOI
This review explores why people with ME/CFS, bipolar disorder, and multiple sclerosis often have severe sleep problems. The authors suggest that inflammation and stress in the body's cells may damage the brain's ability to control sleep and daily rhythms. They propose that when the immune system stays activated, it can trigger harmful processes that disrupt sleep, which then makes inflammation worse—creating a harmful cycle.
Understanding the shared biological mechanisms driving sleep dysfunction in ME/CFS could identify new therapeutic targets and explain why sleep disruption is so debilitating in this disease. This framework suggests that anti-inflammatory and antioxidant interventions might help restore sleep quality, potentially improving overall ME/CFS outcomes.
This review does not provide direct empirical evidence that these proposed mechanisms actually occur in ME/CFS patients—it is a theoretical framework synthesizing existing literature. It does not establish causation, only proposes plausible biological pathways, and does not test whether treating inflammation and oxidative stress would actually restore sleep in ME/CFS.
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Primary citation
Morris, Gerwyn, Stubbs, Brendon, Köhler, Cristiano A, Walder, Ken, Slyepchenko, Anastasiya, Berk, Michael, et al. (2018). The putative role of oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathophysiology of sleep dysfunction across neuropsychiatric disorders: Focus on chronic fatigue syndrome, bipolar disorder and multiple sclerosis.. Sleep medicine reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2018.03.007
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-morris-2018-putative-role,
author = {Morris, Gerwyn and Stubbs, Brendon and Köhler, Cristiano A and Walder, Ken and Slyepchenko, Anastasiya and Berk, Michael and Carvalho, André F},
title = {The putative role of oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathophysiology of sleep dysfunction across neuropsychiatric disorders: Focus on chronic fatigue syndrome, bipolar disorder and multiple sclerosis.},
journal = {Sleep medicine reviews},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1016/j.smrv.2018.03.007},
note = {PubMed: 29759891},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/morris-2018-putative-role},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/morris-2018-putative-role
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