Difficulty sleeping is very common for those who suffer from rheumatic disease. Over half of people with lupus, inflammatory arthritis, and scleroderma suffer from sleep problems. The reason for sleeping problems is often due to several causes. It can be made worse with anxiety and depression. People with rheumatic disease who are not sleeping well tend to have more pain, more severe disease, and more difficulty with their day-to-day function. This is why it is important to improve sleep.
Practicing mindfulness can improve sleep quality. Mindfulness may improve sleep by helping to regulate racing or intrusive thoughts. It also helps tone down the stress response, or the fight or flight pathway, that can be overactive for those with inflammatory diseases.
Difficulty Sleeping Meditation #1
Difficulty Sleeping Meditation #2
Share Your Feedback
Thank you for your interest in the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology’s Mindfulness Program for People Living with Rheumatic Disease. We welcome feedback regarding our exercises. Your response to this questionnaire will remain anonymous and no personal identifiers will be recorded. Completion of this questionnaire is purely voluntary and by taking this survey, your consent to this research study is assumed. Please complete this survey if you are at least 18 years of age and have a rheumatic disease. You may complete this survey for each meditation you have practiced. The information gathered from your responses will help to improve this resource and gain information for research purposes.
Research Study Name: Mindfulness for People Living with Rheumatic Diseases Study ID: IRB00289772 Principle Investigator: Clifton O. Bingham III, MD For more information, contact Michelle Jones: 410-550-9674 or mrkjones@jhmi.edu