This fits right in with what we see in our patients. What is not discussed here is why this would happen. It is our finding that sleep disorders of any type result in physiologic stress that we can see with subtle changes in hormonal values in patients’ labs. This then translates into decreased hypothalamic/pituitary stimulation (FSH, LH) of the ovaries that results in an often very subtle ovulation problem that can result in infertility in these women. Cycles may only vary by a few days to 30 or 32 days considered normal by traditional standards. Other stress factors such as increased adrenaline may directly affect the endometrium. Remember, nature does not want a stressed female to increase her stress with a pregnancy. We see this pattern also in night shift workers who constantly disrupt the circadian rhythm in their systems. All of this points to the fact that nature wants adequate sleep at night (7-8 hours we find). Today’s society increasingly places significant stresses on our females, in the form of job, aerobic exercise, electronic, and nutritional stresses, all adding together to increase the fertility difficulties of our society. We will likely see more of this data surfacing as sleep is further evaluated. Sleep disorder medicine is a relatively new specialty and it’s focus in metabolic medicine has only recently gained much traction.
