Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Sleep disturbance is a defining feature of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME), affecting up to 95% of individuals according to the Institute of Medicine (2015). Most people with CFS/ME experience non-restorative sleep, insomnia, hypersomnia, or disrupted circadian rhythms. These disturbances are associated with neuroendocrine,…
Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Melatonin is a pineal gland hormone essential for sleep initiation and overnight cellular repair. Darkness triggers melatonin synthesis via the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), while evening exposure to blue-enriched artificial light can suppress melatonin production by up to 50% and delay its onset by…
Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Magnesium, vitamin D, and B vitamins are among the key nutrients associated with improved sleep quality. Poor sleep may stem from nutrient insufficiencies, dysregulated cortisol rhythms, or circadian misalignment rather than behavioural factors alone. Targeted nutritional assessment and circadian-aligned lifestyle strategies can help…
Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Convalescence is a structured period of physiological and neurological recovery that may support stress regulation, cognitive restoration, and emotional resilience. Research by Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller University suggests that without adequate recovery from allostatic load, the body’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis can remain dysregulated,…
Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) comprise approximately 8% of human DNA and are normally silenced by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation. In individuals with treatment-resistant CFS/ME, compromised methylation capacity may allow HERV reactivation, which can trigger NF-kB-mediated immune activation, pro-inflammatory cytokine release, mitochondrial…
Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Chronic stress may disrupt sleep architecture by over-activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which can elevate evening cortisol and suppress melatonin production via the pineal gland. This inverse cortisol-melatonin relationship is associated with delayed sleep onset, early morning waking, and reduced time in deep…
Author: Rohan Smith | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Adelaide, SA Quick Answer Following viral infections such as COVID-19, Epstein-Barr virus, or Ross River fever, mitochondria may shift from ATP energy production toward a protective state known as the Cell Danger Response (CDR), first described by Robert Naviaux at UC San Diego. If the limbic system…
