Sleep is not disrupted by exercise in patients with chronic fatigue syndromes.
OBJECTIVE
Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) report that exertion produces dramatic symptom worsening. We hypothesized this might be due to the exacerbation of an underlying sleep disorder, which we have previously demonstrated to exist.


METHODS
Female patients with CFS and matched healthy controls with no evidence of major depressive disorder were studied with overnight polysomnography on a baseline night and on a night after their performance of a maximal exercise test.


RESULTS
CFS patients as a group had evidence for disturbed sleep compared with controls. Although exercise improved sleep for healthy subjects, it did not do this for the group as a whole. When we stratified the sample on the basis of self-reported sleepiness after a night's sleep, the patient group with reduced morning sleepiness showed improvement in sleep structure, whereas those with increased morning sleepiness continued to show evidence for sleep disruption.


CONCLUSIONS
Sleep is disturbed in CFS patients as a group, but exercise does not exacerbate this sleep disturbance. Approximately half the patients studied actually sleep better after exercise. Therefore, activity-related symptom worsening is not caused by worsened sleep.
Togo
Fumiharu
F
Pain & Fatigue Study Center, Department of Neurosciences, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
Natelson
Benjamin H
BH
Cherniack
Neil S
NS
Klapholz
Marc
M
Rapoport
David M
DM
Cook
Dane B
DB
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology