Sleepless Nights May Encourage Pain

[allan]

Sleepless Nights May Encourage Pain

THURSDAY, April 5 (HealthDay News) -- Poor sleep can raise risks for pain in women, a new study suggests.

"This study finds that fragmented sleep profiles, akin to individuals suffering from middle of the night insomnia, health care workers on call, and parents caring for infants, alter natural systems that regulate and control pain, and can lead to spontaneous painful symptoms," researcher Michael T. Smith, of Johns Hopkins University, said in a prepared statement.

The findings are published in the April 1 issue of the journal Sleep.

The study included 32 healthy women who were studied for seven nights. For the first two nights, the women slept undisturbed for eight hours. For the next few nights, the women were then assigned to one of three groups: a control group that continued to sleep undisturbed; a forced awakening (FA) group awakened once an hour (eight times) through the night; and a restricted sleep opportunity (RSO) group subjected to partial sleep deprivation by delaying their bedtime.

On the sixth night, the women in both the FA and RSO groups underwent 36 hours of total sleep deprivation, followed by an 11-hour recovery sleep.

During the study, researchers tested the women's pain thresholds and pain inhibition. The women in the FA group showed an increase in spontaneous pain, while those in the control and RSO groups showed no changes in spontaneous pain or pain inhibition.

"Our research shows that disrupted sleep, marked by multiple prolonged awakenings, impairs natural pain control mechanisms that are thought to play a key role in the development, maintenance, and exacerbation of chronic pain," Smith said.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: American Academy of Sleep Medicine, news release, April 1, 2007

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art...rticlekey=80294

[Pete53]

I believe that but I must admit that I now sleep much better than I used to with a CPAP machine. My Doc wants me to get at least 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night and that was usually about the total I got all night. I actually sleep pretty well sometimes now and the filters have helped my allergies enormously. Anyone who is struggling getting adjusted to a CPAP or BiPAP know that they should hang in and eventually if I could do it I think almost anyone can.

[Sarah]

I personally know how this is, on the nights I sleep really well I feel great pain wise, on sleepless nights I hurt for hours and have to take pain killers during the day. Not a fun road to be down.