Sleep lowers sensitivity to pain

Longer hours of snoozing for those who are mildly sleep deprived helps promote daytime alertness and reduces pain sensitivity, says an American study.

Longer hours of snoozing for those who are mildly sleep deprived helps promote daytime alertness and reduces pain sensitivity, says an American study.

HT Image

“We were surprised by the magnitude of the reduction in pain sensitivity, when compared to the reduction produced by taking codeine (cough suppressant and pain killer),” said Timothy Roehrs, director of research at the Sleep Disorders and Research Centre of Henry Ford Health System and principal study investigator who also led the study.

The study involved a group of healthy, pain-free volunteers. They were randomly assigned to four nights of either maintaining their habitual sleep time or extending their sleep time by spending 10 hours in bed per night, the journal SLEEP reports.

Objective daytime sleepiness was measured using the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) and pain sensitivity was assessed using a radiant heat stimulus, according to a Henry Ford statement.

Results show that the extended sleep group slept 1.8 hours more per night than the habitual sleep group. This nightly increase in sleep time during the four experimental nights was correlated with increased daytime alertness, which was tied to less pain sensitivity.

In the extended sleep group, the length of time before participants removed their finger from a radiant heat source increased by 25 percent, reflecting a reduction in pain sensitivity.

The authors report that the magnitude of this increase in finger withdrawal latency is greater than the effect found in a previous study of 60 mg of codeine.

This is the first study to show that extended sleep in mildly, chronically sleep deprived volunteers reduces their pain sensitivity. The results, combined with data from previous research, suggest that increased pain sensitivity in sleepy individuals is the result of their underlying sleepiness.