Enhancing Quality of Sleep Helps Chronic Pain Sufferers Stay Physically Active

A latest study identifies sleep as the best remedy to treat chronic pain. It suggests that improving the quality of sleep helps chronic pain sufferers stay physically active.

Researchers at University of Warwick's Department of Psychology say that good-quality sleep helps treat chronic pain. They concluded this after examining the day to day association between night time sleep and daytime physical activity in chronic pain patients.

"Engaging in physical activity is a key treatment process in pain management. Very often, clinicians would prescribe exercise classes, physiotherapy, walking and cycling programmes as part of the treatment, but who would like to engage in these activities when they feel like a zombie?", argues study lead-author Dr Nicole Tang.

She explains that most of the patients struggle to remain physically active after onset of pain and these chronic pain sufferers reported an improvement in physical well-being and activities after a sound night's sleep. This study opens a new avenue to enhance the quality of life of patients with chronic pain.

 The researchers also compared several models and noticed that sleep was a good predictor of physical activity compared to the morning ratings of pain intensity or mood.

"The current study identified sleep quality, rather than pain and low mood, as a key driver of physical activity the next day. The finding challenges the conventional target of treatment being primarily focused on changing what patients do during the day. Sleep has a naturally recuperative power that is often overlooked in pain management. A greater treatment emphasis on sleep may help patients improve their daytime functioning and hence their quality of life," said Dr Tang.

The finding was documented in the journal PLOS One.