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If you have trouble getting enough sleep each night, you may feel more sensitive to pain during the day. This discovery has often surfaced in to sleep research over the years, but as in most badociations of this type, it has been difficult to identify the "why and how". A new study that a laboratory experiment with combined brain imaging may have brought the answers a little closer.
Many of us can witness the relationship between sleep and the pain of our daily experience. It is not unusual for a short night's sleep to be accompanied by a headache or painful muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. We all have our versions of the connection in real time and the pain makes sleep more difficult. The cycle is real.
From that point on, this study resulted in a laboratory experiment requiring a dozen brave volunteers, all free from known sleep or pain disorders.
The researchers first studied volunteers' pain thresholds after a night's sleep by applying more and more uncomfortable warmth to their legs while examining their brain activity using an fMRI device. They then repeated the operation after depriving the volunteers of sleep, evaluating their reactions along the way by asking them to rate the level of pain on a scale ranging from 1 to 10.
In the group as a whole, pain scores increased with less heat when volunteers were deprived of sleep.
"They felt discomfort at lower temperatures, showing that their own sensitivity to pain had increased after insufficient sleep." said senior author of the study, Adam Krause, PhD student at UC Berkley. "The injury is the same, but the difference lies in how the brain badesses pain without enough sleep."
The brain imaging phase of the study provides some of the "why" by showing a significant increase in somatosensory cortex activity, a region of the central brain to the pain response. At the same time, imaging has shown a disabling of areas of the brain considered responsible for the management of pain, nucleus accumbens and insular cortex. This combination suggests a "neural dysfunction" in the way the brain treats pain.
"The optimistic conclusion is that sleep is a natural pain reliever that can help manage and reduce pain," says lead author of the study Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Berkeley. and author of the book, & nbsp;Why we sleep.
The researchers conducted another part of the study online using Amazon's Mechanical Turk site. About 230 participants recorded their sleep nights and their pain levels the next day over a few days. The results suggest that even small changes in sleep accompany significant increases in pain.
"The results clearly show that even very subtle changes in nighttime sleep – cuts that many of us think little in terms of consequences – clearly impact your pain burden the next day," Krause added.
The lab portion of this study was relatively small and sleep deprivation levels were extreme (more than most of us are experiencing day-to-day), and the online part was an auto-based survey. -declaration. do not say that the results of both parties are conclusive. & nbsp; What we can say, however, is that the results are in line with what more and more research suggests: lack of sleep is linked to an intensification of some brain experiences, including pain ( as in this case) and anxiety.
The findings also add to our growing list of reasons for improving both the quantity and quality of our sleep – one of the most important health issues of our time, frenetic and distracted.
The study was published in The journal of neuroscience.
You can find David DiSalvo on & nbsp;Twitter,& nbsp;Facebook& nbsp;Google Plusand on his website,& nbsp;daviddisalvo.org.
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If you have trouble getting enough sleep each night, you may feel more sensitive to pain during the day. This discovery has often surfaced in sleep research over the years, but, like most badociations of this type, it was difficult to identify the "why and how". A new study combining laboratory experience with brain imaging may have brought the answers closer to clarity.
Many of us can witness the relationship between sleep and the pain of our daily experience. It is not unusual for a short night's sleep to be accompanied by a headache or painful muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. We all have our versions of the connection in real time and the pain makes sleep more difficult. The cycle is real.
From that point on, this study resulted in a laboratory experiment requiring a dozen brave volunteers, all free from known sleep or pain disorders.
The researchers first studied volunteers' pain thresholds after a night's sleep by applying more and more uncomfortable warmth to their legs while examining their brain activity using an fMRI device. They then repeated the operation after depriving the volunteers of sleep, evaluating their reactions along the way by asking them to rate the level of pain on a scale ranging from 1 to 10.
In the group as a whole, pain scores increased with less heat when volunteers were deprived of sleep.
"They felt discomfort at lower temperatures, which shows that their own sensitivity to pain had increased after insufficient sleep," said lead author Adam Krause. , PhD student at Berkley University. "The injury is the same, but the difference lies in how the brain badesses pain without enough sleep."
The brain imaging phase of the study provides some of the "why" by showing a significant increase in somatosensory cortex activity, a region of the central brain to the pain response. At the same time, imaging has shown a disabling of areas of the brain considered responsible for the management of pain, nucleus accumbens and insular cortex. This combination suggests a "neural dysfunction" in the way the brain treats pain.
"The benefit to remember here is that sleep is a natural pain reliever that can help manage and reduce pain," said Matthew Walker, lead author of the study, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Berkeley and author of the book, Why we sleep.
The researchers conducted another part of the study online using Amazon's Mechanical Turk site. About 230 participants recorded their sleep nights and their pain levels the next day over a few days. The results suggest that even small changes in sleep accompany significant increases in pain.
"The results clearly show that even very subtle changes in nighttime sleep – cuts that many of us think little in terms of consequences – clearly impact the pain burden you experience the next day," he says. added Mr. Krause.
The lab portion of this study was relatively small and sleep deprivation levels were extreme (more than most of us are experiencing day-to-day), and the online part was an auto-based survey. -declaration. Do not say that the results of both parties are conclusive. What we can say, however, is that the results are in line with what more and more research suggests: lack of sleep is linked to an intensification of some brain experiences, including pain (as in present case) and anxiety.
The findings also add to our ever-growing list of reasons to improve both the quantity and quality of our sleep – one of the most important health challenges of our frenetic and distracted time.
The study was published in The journal of neuroscience.
You can find David DiSalvo on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plusand on his website, daviddisalvo.org.
