Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...
Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...
Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...
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Discussion<br />
This study explored the effects of a brief m<strong>in</strong>dfulness body scan <strong>in</strong>tervention on sleep<br />
quality <strong>in</strong> people with FMS <strong>in</strong> comparison to a PMR control group. There was a<br />
significant <strong>in</strong>teraction effect on the sleep fragmentation <strong>in</strong>dex as measured by<br />
actigraphy for group <strong>and</strong> time. There were no other significant differences between the<br />
groups at basel<strong>in</strong>e or follow up, although positive trends were observed <strong>in</strong> the<br />
m<strong>in</strong>dfulness groups for overall perceived sleep quality (PSQI global score). Positive<br />
improvements were also observed <strong>in</strong> both groups <strong>in</strong> perceived sleep efficiency, pa<strong>in</strong>,<br />
fatigue, although the magnitude of the improvements appeared to be larger <strong>in</strong> the<br />
m<strong>in</strong>dfulness group.<br />
The significant <strong>in</strong>tervention between group <strong>and</strong> time for sleep fragmentation appeared<br />
to be due to <strong>in</strong>creased sleep fragmentation <strong>in</strong> the PMR group, rather than improvements<br />
<strong>in</strong> the m<strong>in</strong>dfulness group, suggest<strong>in</strong>g that the PMR <strong>in</strong>tervention may have been<br />
disruptive to sleep quality while participants were complet<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>tervention. Indeed,<br />
three participants who completed the PMR <strong>in</strong>tervention provided <strong>in</strong>formal feedback to<br />
the team that the <strong>in</strong>tervention had aggravated their symptoms. As a result participants<br />
reported that they had discont<strong>in</strong>ued the <strong>in</strong>tervention for the rema<strong>in</strong>der of the week or did<br />
not carry it out every day.<br />
Previous research has revealed that PMR has been shown to be particularly effective for<br />
those experienc<strong>in</strong>g chronic pa<strong>in</strong> with high levels of arousal (Friedberg & Jason, 2001).<br />
However, Friedberg (2001) noted that this type of relaxation may lead to an <strong>in</strong>itial<br />
<strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> fatigue or pa<strong>in</strong> (Friedberg & Jason, 2001). This study has highlighted that<br />
PMR may also lead to an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> fragmented sleep. It appears that the <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong><br />
sleep fragmentation, decreased after discont<strong>in</strong>uation of the <strong>in</strong>tervention (<strong>in</strong> week three),<br />
although as the <strong>in</strong>tervention was only completed for the period of one week, it is unclear<br />
if this <strong>in</strong>crease would have decreased over time naturally as the previous f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
suggest.<br />
This study revealed that participants underestimated their total sleep time <strong>and</strong> sleep<br />
efficiency, <strong>and</strong> overestimated the amount of time it took for them to fall asleep (sleep<br />
onset latency) when compared to the objective actigraphy f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs. This supports the<br />
f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs of previous research us<strong>in</strong>g subjective <strong>and</strong> objective measures of sleep quality <strong>in</strong><br />
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