Does Lack of Sleep Make Fibromyalgia Pain Worse?

For many, this answer may seem an obvious one, but you may be surprised to learn that, while lack of sleep can impact many aspects of day-to-day life, it did not prove to be a predictor of pain levels.

This news comes after a study of seventy-four fibromyalgia sufferers. Researchers at the University of Florida carefully followed the volunteer subjects over the span of fourteen days. On each of those days, patients were asked to rate their pain levels on a standardized scale. They were also asked to complete a sleep journal entry in which they detailed how well and how long they slept the night before.

The team from the University of Florida had good reason to suspect that there would be a link. Sleep duration has been shown to have an impact on clinical pain in healthy adults, thus it was predicted that the same would be true of fibromyalgia pain in regular sufferers.

Unfortunately, no such conclusion could be drawn. The two measures, being the amount and quality of sleep achieved, as well as the level of pain reported the following day — did not have any definitive link.

Despite the disproven assumption, researchers believe that the two may be more distantly related. There is good reason to believe that the fatigue and inactivity that comes as a result of continued sleep loss could negatively impact the well being of fibromyalgia patients. In general, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is beneficial for managing fibromyalgia.

For more information about this study and the findings, continue to reading the full article