Sleep and sleepiness ‘a huge problem’ for people with spinal cord injury

Monitoring cerebral blood flow can test if enough blood is getting to the brain, explains Dr. Aaron Phillips.

A new study led by a University of Calgary researcher finds that fatigue and sleep may need more attention. Using a data-set of more than 60,000 people, it was revealed that individuals with spinal cord injury experience fatigue more than people without spinal cord injury. "The risk of fatigue is nine times greater in individuals with spinal cord injury compared to those without," says Dr. Aaron Phillips, a study leader. "Prior to these results, I don't really think we realized what a huge problem sleep and sleepiness are for people with SCI."

Of course, truth be told, those of us who experienced a spinal cord injury, are all too familiar with this issue from the day we were injured, enduring nightly disruptions during our rehab by nurses who insisted on taking your blood pressure, turning you over, checking your catheter, and more in what seemed to be every two hours of the night. But, on a more serious note, the researchers also found the incidence of clinically defined sleep apnea was roughly four times greater for individuals with SCI compared to those without, and then went on to show that fatigue and trouble sleeping are related to the level and severity of the SCI. People with SCI were suffering from very disturbed breathing during sleep that was actually preventing them from carrying oxygen to vital organs like their brain. You can read the complete article on this topic HERE.

You can also catch a very timely article on this topic HERE, thanks to New Mobility magazine.