What is an EEG?

Steroid hormones are molecules made from cholesterol, typically in the ovaries, testes, and adrenal glands. They are incredibly important in the body, as they are involved in cont

An electroencephalogram, or EEG, is a way to measure brain activity. As part of an EEG, electrodes are placed on a person’s scalp, which read electrical signals coming from the brain and convert them into a visual pattern that can be analyzed.

In ME/CFS, EEG readings are a helpful tool for evaluating one of the hallmark symptoms of the disease, unrefreshing sleep. Some studies indicate that EEG patterns taken during sleep are different when compared to healthy controls, especially when looking at specific brainwaves during the various stages of sleep.

OMF’s Ronald G. Tompkins Harvard ME/CFS Collaboration is working to understand sleep disturbances in ME/CFS and Long COVID through a few studies. These include a retrospective analysis of recordings from multiple sleep studies conducted in the past two years, and a prospective study—in collaboration with researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Clinical Research Center—on people with ME/CFS and Long COVID combining EEG with blood sample testing, cognitive testing, and other measurements. Read more about these sleep studies here.