About 60 percent of seniors suffer from osteoarthritis pain during the night. The pain is often accompanied by sleep disturbance and insomnia. Now research reports that the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-1) can reduce pain and comorbid insomnia. The study suggests that insomnia is not only a symptom of osteoarthritis but a co-existing illness. Therefore, improving sleep habits of osteoarthritis patients can also improve pain.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, examined the effects of CBT-1 (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia) on patients with osteoarthritis and co-morbid insomnia. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle assigned 23 patients (mean age of 69 years) to CBT-1 and 28 patients (mean age 66.5 years) to a stress management and wellness control group.
The participants assessed their pain and recorded their insomnia symptoms in sleep logs prior to and after treatment and one yeare follow-up. The CBT-1 group attended eight weekly, two-hour CBT-1 intervention classes. The participants received two follow-up visits, with the first follow-up at six weeks.
The researchers found that CBT-1 participants reported significantly improved sleep and reduced pain after treatment. The control group reported no significant improvements. After the one-year follow-up, the CBT1 group had maintained improved sleep and reduced pain.
"The particular strength of CBT-I is that once an individual learns how to improve their sleep, study after study has shown that the improvement persists for a year or more," says researcher Michael V. Vitiello, PhD, professor at the University of Washington, in a news release. "What we and others are showing is that CBT-I can not only improve sleep but that improvement of sleep may lead to improvement in co-existing medical or psychiatric illnesses, such as osteoarthritis or depression, and in the case of our study, that these additional benefits can be seen in the long term."
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Getting enough sleep helps our body balance hormone production. Growth hormones are released and these growth hormones will also improve the production of collagen tissues that will help ease up joint pain. Getting the right mattress can hit two birds with one stone. If you choose a firmer mattress, you can get better sleep and you can alleviate the pain caused by joint inflammation. Firmer mattresses provides better support to our body thereby reducing pressure points.