Page 91 - JCBP-3-2

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Impact of sleep on psychosomatic health

Through the activation of different organ systems, and a control group of seven patients who were treated for
REM sleep has the potential to exacerbate the symptoms 10 weeks with diazepam (5 preliminary weeks for the onset
of pre-existing illnesses, which is also true regarding of effects and 5 experimental weeks in which patients were
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the psychosomatic pathology. It is recognized that acute treated with a dose of 25 mg diazepam per day, divided
cardiovascular episodes (angina pectoris, acute myocardial into 5 doses of 5 mg), knowing that diazepam does not
infarction, and stroke) are most frequent in the last part influence the total duration of REM sleep during the night.
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of the night when REM sleep density is the highest. In The symptomatology associated with neurodermatitis
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a case study by Lown et al., a patient without organic (pruritus, erythema, presence of papules, lichenification,
cardiac pathology suffered two episodes of ventricular scaling) was evaluated at 5 weeks of treatment versus
fibrillation due to high psychophysiological stress during 10 weeks of treatment, with statistically significant results
REM sleep, hypothesizing that neurophysiologic factors being observed in relation to improvement in pruritus
may predispose to life-threatening arrhythmias in the (P < 0.001), erythema (P < 0.001) and presence of papules
absence of intrinsic cardiac pathology. Another system (P < 0.03).
frequently concerned by variations during REM sleep is the
respiratory system, particularly with regard to nocturnal 3.2. Sleep deprivation and psychosomatic disorders
attacks of bronchial asthma, which were influenced by the The studies linking acute or chronic sleep deprivation
emotional content of dreams during REM sleep 33,36 and and psychosomatic pathology had two lines of approach:
were more frequent in the latest part of the night, 37,38 similar some demonstrate the existence of a significant association
to cardiovascular events. Other pathologies that were between sleep disturbances and the presence or severity of
exacerbated during REM sleep were: Nocturnal episodes these diseases, while others show that sleep deprivation is
of bruxism by stimulation of the masticatory centers the element that mediates the causal relationship between
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in the medulla oblongata, acute peptic ulcer pain by an a stressor and the exacerbation of symptoms of illnesses
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exaggerated hydrochloric acid secretion associated with a with psychogenic influence.
decrease in the amount of mucus secreted due to psychic Friedman et al. studied the effects of sleep
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pressure, and nocturnal attacks of migraine and cluster deprivation on interns’ ability to recognize arrhythmias
headache. Last but not least, the role of nocturnal penile on electrocardiogram and on their cognitive, perceptual,
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tumescence measurement in the differential diagnosis of and emotional abilities. The study included 14 interns
organic and psychogenic sexual dysfunctions 41,42 is found, who successively acted as their own control subjects.
with the organic ones being characterized by the absence Starting 32 h before testing, the group of rested interns
of erections in REM sleep, and the psychogenic ones by slept an average of 7 h of sleep per night, and the group of
their physiological presence. In addition, these studies fatigued interns an average of about 2 h/night (statistically
noted that increased REM sleep quantity has a negative significant difference between the two groups, P < 0.001).
influence on daytime sexual performance in people with The ability to recognize arrhythmias was tested on a Holter
impotence, even in the absence of depression. 24 recording, perceptual and cognitive parameters on the
Given all these observations, it can be hypothesized that Jarvik questionnaire, and mood on the Mood Adjective
reducing REM sleep duration in patients suffering from Checklist questionnaire. At the end of the study, sleep-
psychosomatic pathology could improve the symptoms of deprived interns made significantly more diagnostic errors
these diseases. In this respect, Friedman et al. conducted than rested interns (9.64 ± 1.41 vs. 5.21 ± 0.93, P < 0.01),
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a therapeutic trial on neurodermatitis (lichen simplex with the Jarvik scale for psychophysiological abnormalities
chronicus), a dermatological disease characterized by showing reduced perceptual and cognitive abilities in the
the presence of pruritic plaques on the skin, which is group of fatigued interns compared to the rested ones (11.43
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strongly influenced by psychological factors and can be ± 1.56 vs. 2.64 ± 0.81, P < 0.01), and the emotions reported
improved with psychotherapy. The trial used phenelzine, by the Mood Adjective Check List scale in the group of
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a monoamine oxidase inhibitor which, at doses of at least fatigued interns were sadness, fatigue, lack of attention
30 mg/day applied for at least 2 weeks, has the ability to and lack of vigor, all of which demonstrate that sleep
block the onset of REM sleep. 46,47 The study methodology deprivation can produce important psychophysiological
involved an experimental group of eight patients with abnormalities. Jarrett et al., studied the effects of the
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neurodermatitis treated for 10 weeks with phenelzine previous night sleep deprivation on the symptomatology
(5 preliminary weeks for the onset of effects in which of 82 women with irritable bowel syndrome, compared to
patients were treated with doses of 30 mg/day, divided 35 control women. In the experimental group, on the day
into 5 doses of 6 mg/day and 5 experimental weeks with following sleep deprivation, women reported significantly
75 mg of phenelzine per day, divided into 5 doses of 15 mg) more gastrointestinal symptoms than patients in the

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 85 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.4997