Assessment of Sleep Quality Improvement Associated with Simple Progressive Muscle Relaxation in Patients with Cancer

Purpose: Approximately 30-70％ of patients with cancer reportedly experience insomnia-induced pain. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a widely used relaxation technique to help people experiencing insomnia. However, PMR involves an added burden for patients with cancer as their disease progresses. Therefore, the authors created a simple PMR. This study assessed improvement in sleep quality associated with simple PMR for patients with cancer.Methods: Patients with cancer hospitalized for treatment underwent one day of intervention with PMR and one control day. The measurement indicators were the Japanese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Oguri-Shirakawa-Azumi Sleep Inventory MA Version (OSA), and interviews.Results: The analysis included ten participants with a mean age of 58 years. Scores for OSA sleepiness on rising (P＝0.003) and sleep initiation/maintenance (P＝0.012) differed significantly between the PMR and control days. A content analysis of the interview recordings extracted four major classifications, such as “my sleep quality improved” and “my sleep quantity improved.”Conclusions: The results suggest that even a single session of simple PMR may improve sleep in patients with cancer, such as with falling asleep and maintaining sleep.