Poor sleep may keep arthritis patients from getting enough exercise

Poor sleep quality was linked with less physical activity in an Arthritis Care & Research analysis of individuals with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis.

Of the 1892 patients in the analysis, 300 (16 percent) reported restless sleep 3 or more days in the past week. Participants reporting much (3-4 days/week) and most (5-7 days/week) restless sleep had 11.9 percent and 23.7 percent less weekly minutes of moderate-vigorous activity, respectively, compared with participants reporting rare restless sleep (less than 1 day/week).

Future studies are needed to determine whether interventions that improve sleep quality might result in increased physical activity, which can provide significant health benefits to patients with knee osteoarthritis.