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A good night's sleep may be the answer for treating chronic pain, according to a new study.

Researchers found that sleep helps keep chronic pain sufferers physically active. Researchers said the latest findings suggest that sleep can help treat all sorts of chronic pain and isn't just a remedy for those with pain-related insomnia.

"Engaging in physical activity is a key treatment process in pain management. Very often, clinicians would prescribe exercise classes, physiotherapy, walking and cycling programs as part of the treatment, but who would like to engage in these activities when they feel like a zombie?" study lead-author Dr. Nicole Tang of the University of Warwick's Department of Psychology said in a news release.

Researchers wanted to see if there was a day-to-day connection between nighttime sleep and daytime physical activity in chronic pain patients.

"Many of the patients struggled to stay physically active after the onset of pain and we found that chronic pain patients spontaneously engaged in more physical activity following a better night of sleep," Tang said.

"The research points to sleep as not only an answer to pain-related insomnia but also as a novel method to keep sufferers physically active, opening a new avenue for improving the quality of life of chronic pain sufferers" she added.

Participants in the study were asked to wear an accelerometer that measured motor activity and monitored their physical activity round the clock for a week in their usual sleeping and living environment. Participants also rated their sleep quality, pain intensity and mood in an electronic diary.

The findings revealed that sleep was a better predictor of physical activity than morning ratings of pain intensity or mood.

Tang said the findings suggest "the prospect of promoting physical activity by regulating sleep may offer a novel solution to an old problem."

"The current study identified sleep quality, rather than pain and low mood, as a key driver of physical activity the next day. The finding challenges the conventional target of treatment being primarily focused on changing what patients do during the day. Sleep has a naturally recuperative power that is often overlooked in pain management. A greater treatment emphasis on sleep may help patients improve their daytime functioning and hence their quality of life," concluded Tang.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE.