Lack of sleep increases the sensation of pain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A lack of sleep is confusing in treating a person's brain pain and makes him more susceptible to pain, researchers from the United States reported. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, in their study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Neurology, neuroscience specialist, have suggested a link between increasing chronic pain and increasing of insomnia in modern society.

Initially, researchers led by Adam Crosse studied the relationship between sleep and pain by conducting experiments on 25 healthy young men in a sleep research laboratory.

To test the feeling of pain, the researchers elevated these youths by using a gradually increasing heat until the participants felt painfully while trying to infer brain activity in different areas. Volunteers were asked to report the level of pain 10 and the participants felt the heat and found it uncomfortable at an average rate of 44, then repeated the same experience after a sleepless night and most of the volunteers started to feel the pain of heat at a temperature below 42 degrees.

"Sleep deprivation not only improves activity in areas that feel pain in the brain, but also blocks natural centers that relieve pain," said Matthew Walker, senior researcher.