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Sleep Quality and Disability

It is well-known that sleep is important to our health and daily function. Poor sleep patterns are linked with depression and pain-related disability. But what about the quality of sleep? Does it matter how well you sleep or how rested you feel when you wake up?

Chronic pain patients participated in this study to try and answer these questions. Each one filled out the Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire Index (PSQI). This survey evaluates how well patients sleep over a one-month period of time.

A second survey was used to measure disability. Disability for this study referred to difficulty with activities of daily living such as walking or dressing caused by pain. Depression was also measured.

The authors found that sleep quality didn't predict pain-related disability. Depression and pain severity were the most important predictors of disability. Depression was a stronger factor in disability than even pain severity.

It's possible that improving sleep quality could reduce depression and pain severity. To find out, the next step is to improve sleep quality and remeasure depression and disability.

References: Felix Naughton, et al. Does Sleep Quality Predict Pain-Related Disability in Chronic Pain Patients? The Mediating Roles of Depression and Pain Severity. In Pain. February 2007. Vol. 127. No. 3. Pp. 243-252.

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