(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Catching zzz’s may help cancer patients manage their pain.

In a recent study, more than half of cancer patients reported difficulty sleeping, with 26 percent reporting moderate to severe sleep problems. These patients also suffered more fatigue, pain and a depressed mood. After analyzing their data, researchers concluded the trouble sleeping caused the pain, not the other way around.

"We believed we would find a bi-directional relationship between insomnia and pain, but instead found that trouble sleeping was more likely a cause, rather than a consequence, of pain in patients with cancer," lead author Edward J. Stepanski, M.D., chief operational officer at the Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network in Memphis, Tenn., was quoted as saying.