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Do you wake up feeling tired and worn out every day? No, it\u2019s not just a mild inconvenience. <\/p>\nDo you wake up feeling tired and worn out every day? No, it\u2019s not just a mild inconvenience. <\/p>\n
If you are over 50 and experience non-restorative sleep, then be cautious because this condition is a double-edged sword! It results in widespread pain in the body and could be one of the first signs of a serious disease \u2013 FIBROMYALGIA!<\/p>\n
A research team led by Dr. John McBeth in Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University in Staffordshire, have found that in people above 50, non-restorative sleep spells trouble. <\/p>\n
It opens the door for widespread pain which in turn is strongly related to developing fibromyalgia. The findings have been published in Arthritis & Rheumatology journal.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a well known fact that with an increase in age, musculoskeletal pain (related to bones, muscle and nerve) becomes more common. In fact from 65 years onward, 4 out of 5 people complain of experiencing pain on an everyday basis.<\/p>\n
Around 4300 adults above 50 years took part in this study. Among them, 2700 participants complained of some pain though not widespread pain, while others did not experience any pain whatsoever. <\/p>\n
The participants were asked to fill in questionnaires related to physical and mental health, past medical conditions, lifestyle and health behaviors and socio-demographic status. All these details helped the researchers identify if any of the patients fell in the risk category of developing widespread pain and consequently fibromyalgia.<\/p>\n
The participants were constantly followed-up for a period of 3 years and then re-assessed for development of widespread pain.<\/p>\n
The results showed that about 19 percent of participants who experienced mild to no pain had developed widespread pain in three years!<\/strong><\/p>\n Of this, 25 percent were those who had complained of some pain earlier and 8 percent of participants had no pain previously.<\/p>\n The next step was to find out what factor played an important role in the development of pain. The researchers used a statistical tool to analyze patterns and identified the culprit! They found that the strongest link to the pain development was non-restorative sleep.<\/p>\n This has been further emphasized in another study in which healthy participants were woken up at various stages of deep sleep. The effect it had on them was particularly surprising \u2013 the participants actually developed a few typical features of fibromyalgia! <\/p>\n Another Norwegian study has also proved that poor sleeping habits are strongly associated with development of fibromyalgia. So the take-home lesson is: practice healthy sleeping habits to keep fibromyalgia at bay.<\/p>\n