David Oliver: Fighting pyjama paralysis in hospital wards

The momentum of Nottingham University Hospitals’ social media campaign “End PJ Paralysis” has been growing,1 with clinical teams around the country joining in and reports appearing in the national media.2 Its starting premise is that we should get more hospital inpatients out of nightwear, out of bed, and into their day clothes to speed their recovery and help minimise harms from prolonged immobility. The perils of bed rest as treatment for hospital inpatients were recognised in the 1940s by Richard Asher, in his seminal essay The Dangers of Going to Bed ,3 and they were elegantly …