Researches at Aalborg University in Denmark have concluded that even short-term disturbances in sleep can increase the body's sensitivity to pain and that women are more susceptible than men.
Poor sleep can lead to a series of health challenges, but not many people would associate it with chronic pain. li
It is estimated that one in five across the globe suffers from some sort of chronic pain and the vast majority of them are women. Aalborg scientists were looking to understand the impact of the nervous system's response to pain as a result of poor sleep and it was clear to them from what they found that both the body and mind are affected.
"For many years, we've relied on stronger and more targeted medicine," says Kristian Kjær-Staal Petersen, associate professor and pain researcher at Aalborg University. "But perhaps the solution is far simpler. It seems that sleep plays a greater role in pain than we previously understood, especially in women."
The study pool consisted of 59 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 45. They were woken up three times each night for three nights and they had to complete small tasks before they could go back to bed.
Their nervous system's response to pain was measured before and after the experiment and the results were clear that interrupted sleep is detrimental when it comes to pain management. And it was more pronounced among the female participants.
"When we see the same pattern in different studies, it strengthens the validity of our findings," says Kjær-Staal Petersen. "All the results indicate that quality of sleep is central to many vital functions in the body, such as the immune system, psychological factors and our lifestyle in general."
He says current treatment for chronic pain is generally limited to three main modes: exercise, medicine and surgery. While they may work for some, there are still many who don't benefit.
"Exercise can provide a pain reduction of 20–25%, but for many people, this is far from enough," says Kjær-Staal Petersen. "The most common medicine will reduce pain by 25% and stronger medicines are associated with side effects, and although surgery helps many people, in some cases it can worsen the situation."
The link between depression and anxiety to sleep disturbances and the close biological and clinical connection with anxiety and depression to pain is why he says sleep is being looked at as a missing piece of the puzzle.
"Sleep therapy is hardly the answer for everyone," says Kjær-Staal Petersen. "But it seems to be able to make a real difference—especially in the complex cases where we otherwise lack good treatment options."
