Kallestad, Håvard, Jacobsen, Henrik B, Landrø, Nils Inge et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2015 · DOI
This study examined whether improving sleep problems (insomnia) could help people with chronic fatigue feel less tired and recover better from stress. Researchers worked with 122 people who had chronic fatigue and received a 3.5-week rehabilitation program focused on acceptance and commitment therapy. They found that patients whose insomnia improved also experienced greater improvements in fatigue and had better stress recovery, suggesting that treating sleep problems may be an important part of treating chronic fatigue.
Insomnia is highly prevalent in ME/CFS and often assumed to be secondary to fatigue, but this study suggests it may be a maintaining factor that actively perpetuates chronic fatigue. Identifying insomnia as a specific treatment target could improve rehabilitation outcomes and help clinicians prioritize interventions more effectively.
This study does not prove that insomnia causes chronic fatigue or that treating insomnia will cure ME/CFS. The correlational design cannot establish causality, and the small subgroup completing stress testing (n=25) limits generalizability of the cortisol findings. Results are specific to patients with chronic fatigue on sick leave undergoing ACT-based rehabilitation and may not apply to all ME/CFS phenotypes.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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