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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<strong>in</strong> bed, participants may have developed negative associations with go<strong>in</strong>g to bed,<br />
dysfunctional beliefs about their sleep or started to engage <strong>in</strong> sleep catastrophis<strong>in</strong>g<br />
(Mor<strong>in</strong>, Stone, Tr<strong>in</strong>kle, Mercer, & Remsberg, 1993). The wide variability <strong>in</strong> the<br />
duration of night-time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs found <strong>in</strong> this study, suggests that this may be an<br />
important dist<strong>in</strong>ction <strong>in</strong> our underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g of the role of night-time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> FMS.<br />
Objective measures of sleep have shown higher frequencies of night-time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
than subjective reports which may occur as people could experience brief awaken<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
that they may not be fully conscious of at night (Lockley, Skene, & Arendt, 1999).<br />
Consequently, it may be the case that nocturnal awaken<strong>in</strong>gs of several m<strong>in</strong>utes may<br />
have less of an impact on FMS symptoms, than awaken<strong>in</strong>gs of several hours <strong>and</strong> this<br />
was not explored with<strong>in</strong> this study. Physiological factors such as <strong>in</strong>creased pa<strong>in</strong> due to a<br />
period of <strong>in</strong>activity may prevent sleep onset after awaken<strong>in</strong>g or awaken<strong>in</strong>gs may be due<br />
to abnormal levels hormones <strong>and</strong> neurotransmitter activity as described <strong>in</strong> Chapter One.<br />
Therefore, further <strong>in</strong>vestigation of the causes of night-time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> FMS is<br />
necessary.<br />
The Effect of <strong>Sleep</strong> on Health Outcomes <strong>in</strong> FMS<br />
The results of this study support previous f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs that components of poor sleep quality<br />
are significantly associated with pa<strong>in</strong>, poorer physical function<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> higher levels of<br />
negative affect <strong>in</strong> FMS (Affleck et al., 1996; Agargun et al., 1999; Nicassio et al.,<br />
2002). Previous studies of sleep <strong>in</strong> FMS have explored self-reported sleep us<strong>in</strong>g global<br />
measures of sleep quality such as s<strong>in</strong>gle VAS scales. However, <strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e with the<br />
proposals of Pilcher et al (1997), the role of sleep on health outcomes became clearer<br />
when the <strong>in</strong>dividual components of the PSQI were used <strong>in</strong> the analysis. For example, <strong>in</strong><br />
this study it appeared that the number of night-time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> overall sleep<br />
quality were more related to health outcomes <strong>in</strong> FMS than sleep quantity, sleep onset<br />
latency or sleep efficiency, <strong>and</strong> it was <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g to note that the global PSQI score was<br />
not significantly correlated with general health. As only night-time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong><br />
perceived sleep quality were the components of sleep quality that were significantly<br />
correlated with health outcomes, <strong>in</strong> this study, this would suggest that reduc<strong>in</strong>g night-<br />
time awaken<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> perceived sleep quality should be the focus of <strong>in</strong>terventions to<br />
improve health related quality of life <strong>in</strong> FMS.<br />
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