Actigraphic sleep and daytime naps in adolescent girls with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Objectives: A descriptive pilot study to examine sleep and daytime naps in adolescent girls with chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain.

Methods: Seventeen girls (14.9 +/- 2.

Pain in children with cerebral palsy: a review.

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) face many challenges including impaired motor control and coordination, functional impairment, sensory disturbances, and, sometimes, communication difficulties and cognitive deficits. Pain also may be a problem for children with CP due in part to the inherent deficits associated with the disease, as well as the invasive medical and surgical procedures and rehabilitative activities children with CP undergo on a regular basis. A review of current literature indicates pain is a common experience for children with CP and has been understudied in this population.

Investigating sleep disturbances in adults with rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and joint involvement. Most adults with RA experience sleep disturbances, including longer times before falling asleep, numerous awakenings during the night, and early morning wakening, resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue. This article will review what is known about sleep disturbances and the biologic basis in adults with RA, the influence of ovarian hormone levels in women with RA, how medications may influence sleep in RA, and complementary and alternative therapies that may be useful in reducing sleep disturbances.

Sleep quality in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) report poor sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, anxiety, and altered mood. Sleep disturbances in school-aged children are an issue of serious concern. Children are at an age when sleep is of primary importance to physical and intellectual growth, and sleep disturbances that begin in childhood may persist into adulthood.

Evidence for the validity of a sleep habits survey for adolescents.

Study Objectives: To examine the validity of self-reported survey estimates of sleep patterns in adolescents through a comparison of retrospective survey descriptions of usual school- and weekend-night sleep habits with diary-reported sleep patterns and actigraphically estimated sleep behaviors over a subsequent week.

Design And Setting: High school students completed a Sleep Habits Survey about the previous 2 weeks and then wore an actigraph (AMI, Ardsley, NY) for 8 days while keeping a daily sleep diary. Matched-pair t tests assessed average differences between survey and diary reports and between survey and actigraph estimates.

Sleep and circadian schedule disorders.

The timing and synchronization of human circadian rhythms is important for health and well-being. Some individuals, for reasons that remain unclear, display less resilience or flexibility in their ability to synchronize to the 24-hour world and are thus diagnosed with a circadian schedule disorder. The objective of this article is to briefly introduce concepts about human circadian timing and to review what is known about chronic, long-term circadian schedule disorders such as delayed sleep phase syndrome, advanced sleep phase syndrome, irregular sleep-wake patterns, and non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder.

Effects of shiftwork on sleep and menstrual function in nurses.

Evidence suggests that shiftwork is associated with menstrual irregularities, reproductive disturbances, risk of adverse pregnancy outcome, and sleep disturbances in women, yet little has been done to evaluate the effects of shiftwork on menstrual function and fertility. The purpose of this study was to evaluate menstrual function, fertility, and pregnancy outcome in nurses working shiftwork, and to examine the relationship of sleep to menstrual function. Sixty-eight nurses < 40 years old completed a survey evaluating sleep, menstrual function, and pregnancy outcome.