Sleep, Pain and Obesity
Studies also show that those who are obese and have fibromyalgia will experience more sleep problems than those with healthy weight. This is what contributes to more pain in the body.
The link between poor sleep and pain in fibromyalgia patients has been shown to appear both ways. Firstly, poor sleep can create more pain in patients. In one study, women who have enough sleep showed significant decrease in pain due to fibromyalgia. Those who have poor sleep have otherwise suffered more pain.
Secondly, not having enough sleep can also reduce a person’s ability to deal with pain. This also makes it more difficult for them to focus on certain things and in doing some activities. It is encouraging to know that exercising and losing weight can help in managing the painful symptoms of fibromyalgia.
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Thank you, the article was most helpful.
As an overweight obsese woman it explains alot about depression and anixty you are in so much pain you cant or dont even want to go for a walk.
This article was very informative. Thanks.
Really appreciate these articles about fibromyalgia. For a disease that hurts so bad, it has always bothered me that there was no proven way to know you had it other than pressure points. I read the article about the blood test now being a proven way to know for sure it is truly fibro that you are dealing with. Thankful for all the research being done!
As if the physiological pain of FMS weren’t bad enough, researchers never quite follow through their investigations using creative ways of joining the dots.
To me, it is quite obvious that pain would be increased in the obese patient, but where the research falls short, is in understanding the connection between the embodied trauma from abuse and or other ‘shock’ reactions to the system.
I would hope that someone somewhere is looking outside the box. It is quite true, obesity does equal more pain. What isn’t true is that the answer is simply change your diet, get more exercise and then you will be in less pain.
The complexities are multi layered and faceted with somatised trauma at the core. Until this is investigated the obese patients and clients we have, need to understand that articles such as this are only the findings of one aspect of many possible avenues which could be investigated.
Being obese IS a painful world to inhabit. To suggest it is the cause of a painfilled body of Fibromyalgia, is short sighted and ultimately inaccurate.
Felicity,
Thank you for your comment.
We would like to clarify that the article does not suggest, or aim to suggest that being obese is the cause of painfilled body in fibromyalgia. If the article was misleading, we apologize.
The gist of the article is that being overweight or obese can increase severity of symptoms and worsen pain in fibromyalgia. Yes, for the obvious reason that the extra weight you carry put strain and pressure in your lower body. In addition, the other common medical conditions that an overweight fibromyalgia patient faces, such as high blood pressure, breathing problems, sleep apnea, can add to more pain.