Sleep spindles are distinct portions of electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings that typically occur during non-rapid eye movement sleep. They are thought to be important for moving information from short- to long-term storage (consolidating memories) and maintaining sleep stability.

Unrefreshing or fragmented sleep is a hallmark symptom of ME/CFS, so understanding the mechanism behind that disrupted sleep is an important step toward improving people’s quality of life. There are limited sleep studies in people with ME/CFS, but some preliminary evidence shows there is a sleep spindle deficiency in patients.

OMF’s Computational Research Center for Complex Diseases and Ronald G. Tompkins Harvard ME/CFS Collaboration are working with sleep specialists at Beth Israel Deaconess to understand unrefreshing sleep in ME/CFS and Long COVID. Read more about their in-depth analysis of sleep on our website: https://www.omf.ngo/sleep-disturbance-in-me-cfs/.