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Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...

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time <strong>and</strong> sleep quality were associated with negative affect <strong>and</strong> fatigue the follow<strong>in</strong>g<br />

day. The effects of poor sleep on low mood <strong>and</strong> fatigue become more pronounced after<br />

two to three successive nights of poor sleep, suggest<strong>in</strong>g that the effects of poor sleep are<br />

cumulative (Hamilton et al., 2008). These f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs also <strong>in</strong>dicate that poor sleep may<br />

lead to <strong>in</strong>creased negative affect <strong>and</strong> fatigue, rather than the other way around.<br />

However, the study did not explore the effect of sleep on pa<strong>in</strong>.<br />

A study which did explore the relationships between sleep <strong>and</strong> pa<strong>in</strong> was conducted by<br />

Affleck et al (1998). Participants were asked to monitor their perceived pa<strong>in</strong>, sleep,<br />

fatigue, <strong>and</strong> the amount of progress they felt they had made towards their rehabilitation<br />

goals, three times per day when prompted by the computer over a 30 consecutive day<br />

period. They revealed that poor sleep quality was associated with <strong>in</strong>creased attention<br />

towards pa<strong>in</strong>, reduced effort towards physical rehabilitation goals <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>creased pa<strong>in</strong><br />

severity the follow<strong>in</strong>g day. The relationship between pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> sleep however did not<br />

appear to be bi-directional, as pa<strong>in</strong> was not associated with poor sleep quality the<br />

subsequent night (Affleck et al., 1998). In support of these short term follow up<br />

f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs, a longitud<strong>in</strong>al study explor<strong>in</strong>g sleep <strong>and</strong> pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> patients with FMS over the<br />

course of one year, found that poor sleep quality at basel<strong>in</strong>e was predictive of pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />

sleep quality at one year, but basel<strong>in</strong>e pa<strong>in</strong> did not significantly predict sleep quality at<br />

one year (Bigatti, Hern<strong>and</strong>ez, Cronan, & R<strong>and</strong>, 2008). These f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs support the<br />

conceptual framework of pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> sleep outl<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> Chapter Two (Call-Schmidt &<br />

Richardson, 2003) suggest<strong>in</strong>g that poor sleep may <strong>in</strong>crease low mood <strong>and</strong> impair the<br />

person‟s ability to cope with subsequent pa<strong>in</strong>. This <strong>in</strong> turn leads to <strong>in</strong>creased attention<br />

towards the pa<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> pa<strong>in</strong> severity as a result. <strong>Sleep</strong> disturbance may therefore have an<br />

important role <strong>in</strong> both the aetiology <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>tenance of symptoms for patients with<br />

FMS, possibly through the lack of the restorative functions of good quality sleep <strong>and</strong><br />

psychological impact. However, the f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs of these studies are limited as only one of<br />

these studies used a st<strong>and</strong>ardised assessment of sleep quality such as the MOS-SS or<br />

PSQI, therefore the reliability <strong>and</strong> validity of the f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs may be questioned. The<br />

potential difference <strong>in</strong> sleep disturbance may have important implications for treatment<br />

<strong>and</strong> further <strong>in</strong>vestigation <strong>in</strong>to the exact nature of the sleep difficulties <strong>and</strong> factors that<br />

may be l<strong>in</strong>ked to the ma<strong>in</strong>tenance of sleep difficulties <strong>in</strong> people with FMS is needed.<br />

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