Sleep may stop chronic pain sufferers from becoming 'zombies'

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/uow-sms032714.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 27-Mar-2014

Contact: Tom Frew
University of Warwick

Sleep may stop chronic pain sufferers from becoming 'zombies'

Chronic pain sufferers could be kept physically active by improving the quality of their sleep, new research suggests.

The study by the University of Warwick's Department of Psychology, published in PLoS One, found that sleep was a worthy target for treating chronic pain and not only as an answer to pain-related insomnia.

"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.

Dr Tang and study co-author Dr Adam Sanborn examined the day-to-day association between night-time sleep and daytime physical activity in chronic pain patients. "Many of the patients struggled to stay physically active after the onset of pain and we found that chronic pain patients spontaneously engaged in more physical activity following a better night of sleep".

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