If these resonate with you, your sleep quality may be negatively impacting your kidney health. Research has uncovered a strong connection between sleep for general well-being as well as an important key for kidney health.<\/p> Sleep disorders are\u00a0very common<\/a> in patient with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Because sleep symptoms can be subjective, it\u2019s difficult to nail down the exact prevalence. Studies report that the\u00a0prevalence of sleep disorders in kidney patients<\/a> ranges between 31-57% depending on published studies. Although it appears that there is\u00a0no association<\/a> between the severity of sleep disorders and the stage of kidney disease, those who have kidney failure<\/a> and are on dialysis are more likely to have problem with sleep than other CKD patients.<\/p> When you look at specific sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or restless leg syndrome (RLS) you will find that these are very common in patients with CKD. In fact, studies that measured the frequency of sleep apnea in CKD patients reported results\u00a0as high as 94%.<\/a><\/p> Insomnia<\/a> is the most common recognized sleep disorder. It is defined as the subjective complaint of difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep for at least three times per week for a duration of four weeks or more to a degree that daytime functioning is impaired.\u00a0<\/p> Sleep problems can lead to a\u00a0decreased performance at work or school<\/a>. They may\u00a0slow reaction time<\/a> increasing the risk for motor vehicle accidents. They have also been linked to\u00a0depression, anxiety and substance abuse<\/a>. Sleep disorders have been associated with increased risk for\u00a0diabetes<\/a>,\u00a0high blood pressure <\/a>and\u00a0heart disease<\/a>.<\/p> When thinking about sleep health, it is important to think about these following qualities:<\/p> A sleep questionnaire can be very helpful in identifying those who have sleep issues and need for intervention. Try our sleep questionnaire here<\/a> if you\u2019d like to understand your sleep quality better.<\/p> Many factors can lead to sleep disruption. These factors include toxin exposure, genetic risk, nutritional deficiencies, medications, and of course stress and anxiety.<\/p> The hours we are sleeping are very important for\u00a0nerve cells restoration and clean-up<\/a>. In fact, studies have demonstrated that sleep promotes clearance of neurotoxic waste products that accumulate during waking hours.\u00a0<\/p> The sleep-wake cycle is also important in\u00a0liver detoxification<\/a> of toxins and medications. But most importantly, toxins such as arsenic, pesticides, phthalates, polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAs) have been specifically linked to\u00a0 sleep troubles in one of the largest studies<\/a> conducted in the US. Higher levels of urinary arsenic were found to be associated with leg jerks. Pesticides were associated with increased leg cramps during sleep. PFAs not only can\u00a0directly cause kidney damage<\/a>, they also disrupt sleep due to increased leg jerks during the night.<\/p> There are several nutrients hat are implicated in disrupting sleep:<\/p> Many prescription drugs<\/a> have been found to interfere with sleep. Medications such as antidepressants, asthma and blood pressure medications are the most common offenders. In addition, many\u00a0over-the-counter medications<\/a> such as pain medications, allergy, and cold medication and weight-loss products can contain caffeine or other stimulants that can disrupt sleep.<\/p> Even sleep medications, which are commonly used to treat insomnia may cause sleep disturbances. This is because they do not allow those who take them to fall into the\u00a0normal, deep sleep<\/a> pattern that results in restorative sleep. Alcohol may make you sleepy, however studies show that regular consumption of\u00a0alcohol is also disruptive<\/a> to healthy sleep.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> As you may expect,\u00a0stress<\/a> has been documented to lead to poor sleep quality. This association is maybe mediated by the hormones that drive up activity of the\u00a0hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) Axis, driving the fight-or-flight-response.\u00a0Multiple hormones<\/a> have been found to affects the sleep cycle, particularly cortisol for example. Cortisol is a driver of inflammation and can contribute to insulin resistance which leads to blood sugar imbalances, which we\u2019ve already learned affect sleep quality.<\/p> Lastly, it appears that our genes play an important factor in setting our internal clock.\u00a0Genes<\/a> our sleep-wake patterns that can influence our physiology, our cyrcadan rhythm, we utilize nutrients, and handle toxins and medication \u2013 all the factors that impact sleep. The field of\u00a0chronotherapeutics<\/a> which studies these associations is still in its infancy but\u00a0\u00a0we will learn more about it in the near future.<\/p> Poor sleep can impact the kidneys in two ways: directly and indirectly.\u00a0<\/p> Indirectly<\/em>, the factors we described above may lead to insufficient sleep, poor quality of sleep and apnea can lead to\u00a0elevated blood pressure<\/a> (hypertension) or make it more difficult to control. There is also a strong body of evidence linking\u00a0blood sugar (glucose) metabolism<\/a> with sleep quality and quantity. Fragmented sleep has been associated with\u00a0increased insulin resistance and metabolic<\/a> disease. Finally, fragmented sleep has been shown to impact the hormonal control of satiety and hunger leading to\u00a0excessive eating and obesity<\/a>. It is well established that diabetes, hypertension and obesity are associated with linked to the development and progression of CKD.<\/p> Directly<\/em>, sleep can be a key regulator of kidney function. During sleep, sympathetic activity (fight-or-flight) decreases, and parasympathetic activity increases leading to a\u00a0drop in blood pressure<\/a> providing a positive benefit on the circulation in the kidneys. Patients with\u00a0sleep disorders<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0especially those with sleep apnea may lose this drop in blood pressure because their parasympathetic system doesn\u2019t kick on.\u00a0<\/p> Shift work and irregular sleep timing and poor quality has also been found to affect the regulation of the\u00a0renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system<\/a> (RAAS). RAAS plays an important role in the\u00a0development and progression of kidney disease<\/a>. Last but not least,\u00a0obstructive sleep apnea<\/a> is associated with increased\u00a0inflammation and oxidative stress<\/a> which leads to kidney damage.<\/p> CKD itself can be a risk factor for\u00a0sleep disorders<\/a>. Melatonin, which is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, is responsible for the sleep-wake cycle usually increase during the night to induce sleep. In kidney patients, this natural rhythm seems to\u00a0be blunted<\/a>. CKD can lead to a\u00a0short, fragmented sleep<\/a> and difficulty falling asleep. In addition, CKD has been associated with OSA,\u00a0restless leg syndrome (RLS)<\/a>, and increased\u00a0leg cramps<\/a>.<\/p> Sleep disorders are common in kidney disease and they have been associated with the development and progression of CKD. They also can lead to inflammation, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Multiple factors plan a role in the development of sleep disorders. It is important to work with an Integrative or Functional medicine provider to evaluate your sleep and kidney health.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many Americans report difficulties with sleep. Do any of these sound familiar? Regularly getting less than 7-8 hours of sleep per night \u00a0Waking up in the morning not feeling fully well rested most mornings Regularly have trouble falling asleep\u00a0 Wake up frequently once or more during the night and can\u2019t fall back asleep Wake up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[38,26,61,36,35,27,60,25,59],"class_list":["post-1223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-series","tag-best-for-kidneys","tag-functional-medicine","tag-i-need-a-kidney","tag-inkidney","tag-integrative-kidney-solutions","tag-integrative-medicine","tag-kidney-disease","tag-kidney-health","tag-sleep"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3433,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions\/3433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"sleeping](\"https:\/\/old.inkidney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sle-copy-min.jpg\")
<\/figure>The Scale of the Problem<\/h2>
Why Adequate Sleep is Important<\/h2>
\r\n
Disrupters of Sleep<\/h2>
Toxins<\/em><\/h3>
Nutrient Deficiencies<\/em><\/h3>
\r\n
Medications and alcohol<\/em><\/h3>
Biological factors<\/em><\/h3>
Impact of Poor Sleep on Kidney Health<\/h2>
Impact of Kidney Disease on Sleep<\/h2>
The Bottom Line<\/h2>