Gluten and sleep disturbance
Posted on August 10th, 2008 by alison
Someone asked me recently if there is a connection between gluten intolerance and restless sleep or other sleep disturbances. Yes, was my immediate answer, based on my own experience and that of my friend’s husband. I then did a search to see if there were any studies related to celiac and sleep — I came up with no medical studies. I did however come up with a slew of personal stories about sleep disturbances and gluten, and even dairy and soy.
First, my story… I used to be a restless sleeper. I moved around a lot throughout the night. I had too-vivid dreams. I did this strange thing where I would rub my feet together in a certain way before I could settle down to sleep. I had leg cramps. I also had tingling and shooting pain at times in my toes and legs. Sometimes I was nauseous during the night. I was often congested. I snored (attractive, no?). I even had sleep paralysis a couple of times — if you have never experienced this, it is an awful state in which your mind wakes before your body and you are unable to move although you are awake. I actually didn’t even remember this until I began reading about other people’s sleep problems as related to gluten and found a number of people who suffered from sleep paralysis until going gluten-free. Amazing. And my sleep since being gluten-free? I sleep calmly. I hardly move. I can breathe!
Then there is the story of my friend’s husband who had restless leg syndrome. I remember her telling me that every morning she would have to massage his legs because they would be in knots from their involuntary activity all night long. As my friend searched for a treatment for him (other than the medication the doctors wanted to prescribe), she found that gluten could be a cause of restless leg syndrome. This discovery was a powerful one — once gluten-free, his restless leg syndrome went away. You can read all of Lan-Ping’s story.
Want to hear more? Here are a couple of articles that link restless leg syndrome to celiac disease (or a mineral deficiency caused by celiac):
Click the link below to enter a forum focused on gluten and sleep and read about the connections people have found between gluten and restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, nightmares, insomnia, and even getting up too often to go to the bathroom. There are 10 pages of related topics, so be sure to click to the next pages.
I would love to hear any personal experience you have with sleep issues and gluten or other foods. Please comment below!
I have both the restless legs and Sleep Apnea along with my Celiac but some of the leg problems are caused from the Diabetes I also have. My problem is mainly I can fall asleep to much. I have done so at my computer, watching TV, and even sitting in my swing outside. One day I will have lots of pep and the next I can hardly put one foot in front of the other. It’s gotten so I have to take a nap to get through some days.
Our son had terrible sleeping problems and often woke in the middle of the night. He averaged between 7-8 hours of sleep at night as a toddler and was very hyper prior to going to bed. After putting him on a gluten free (and all natural diet) he began sleeping through the night and sleeping an average of 11 hours daily. I was also very congested at night prior to going gluten free. I also had tingling and numbness issues with my hands and feet. Both resolved themselves when I started to eat like my son.
HLA-DQB1*0602, one of the main genes that predisposes to non-celiac gluten sensitivity, also predisposes to narcolepsy. It seems pretty obvious that there is a strong connection between gluten intolerance and sleep problems. It’s sad that so little research has been done.
For the last year, I have had a hard time sleeping. First I would get to sleep, but would wake up several times a might and would fall back to sleep. In the last few months, I have nights where I cannot get to sleep at all. I started taking the bio-hormones a couple of months ago, and I am still having a hard time sleeping. The doctor thinks I may be gluten intolerant, but has yet to test me for it. I do have alot of tummy troubles ( Acid relux disease ) and take Nexium everyday. Could my problems be gluten intolerance??
When glutened, I have an undeniable link to not being able to sleep.
The first night is the worst, wide awake till 3 or 4 am and then only small 1 hour interludes of restless sleep till I”m finally glad it’s morning and I can just get up.
I used to think I was simply a sensitive sleeper (I wear ear plugs) but after realizing I had a gluten intolerance and abstained, I slept better than I had in years. What a relief! The connection was very clear and immediate.
Now, it’s a matter of not getting contaminated which unless making all of my own food myself is hard to maintain. I’m not sure if the sleeplessness is related to the body being uncomfortable, tense, and upset, or if there is actually another symptom because I often feel really wired like I had a pot of coffee.
I hope they will find a cure or fix for this, I can’t say how many terrible nights from gluten have made my days unproductive and miserable.