EULAR 2019: Sleep, fatigue and chronic pain, is there a connection?

Is there a connection with insomnia and unrefreshed sleep and low-grade inflammation? Probably. Immune activation induces fatigue, sleepiness and changes in sleep architecture. Physical activity, chronic musculoskeletal pain and insomnia are important factors to consider in patients with rheumatic diseases. Many researchers do not consider sleep as an additional treatment outcome and this was shocking for PhD candidate Elvind Skarpsno who presented his research over this topic. The long term effect of pain severity on insomnia was evident as prospective studies have shown that there exists a bidirectional relation between insomnia and musculoskeletal pain, insomnia is associated with risk of chronic musculoskeletal pain and vice versa. The association between sleep and pain is being studied from several perspectives, mainly modified factors and mechanisms. A very important modified factor is physical activity. Observational and experimental studies showed that physical activity is beneficial and improves the quality of sleep via several different mechanisms. Are all types of physical activity beneficial for sleep? Interesting question that lead to a study in…