Autonomic nervous system function during sleep among women with irritable bowel syndrome.

This study compared heart-rate variability (HRV) indices of autonomic nervous system function during two nights of sleep between women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS, n = 35) and healthy controls (n = 38), and among subgroups within the IBS sample based on predominant stool patterns. HRV measures were estimated in conjunction with polysomnographic sleep scoring to define sleep stage-specific autonomic indices. Overall, there were no differences in indicators of HRV between women with IBS and controls.

Decreased sleep spindles and spindle activity in midlife women with fibromyalgia and pain.

Objectives: To compare sleep-spindle incidence (number of spindles per minute of non-rapid eye movement [NREM] stage 2 sleep) and duration, spindle wave time (seconds per epoch in NREM stage 2 sleep), spindle frequency activity, and pain measures (pressure pain threshold, number of tender points, skinfold tenderness) between midlife women with fibromyalgia (FM) and moderate to high pain to a control group of sedentary women without pain. A second goal was to explore the extent to which pain pressure thresholds, age, and depression explain the variance in spindle incidence.

Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study.

Self-reported sleep quality and fatigue correlates with actigraphy in midlife women with fibromyalgia.

Background: Limited data are available on the relationship between self-reported sleep quality, fatigue, and behavioral sleep patterns in women with fibromyalgia (FM).

Objectives: To compare self-reported sleep quality, fatigue, and behavioral sleep indicators obtained by actigraphy between women with FM and sedentary women without pain, and to examine relationships among these variables.

Methods: Twenty-three women with FM (M = 47.