Pain. It is one of main factors that prevent sleep. The following information covers some of the major causes of pain and the prevalence of sleep deprivation due to this.

Pain is the major cause of insomnia. Sixty-five percent of pain with sleep sufferers reported being awakened during the night by pain and waking up feeling unrefreshed.

Twenty percent of Americans report that some type of pain or discomfort disrupts their sleep a few nights per week or more. This sleep disruption in turn causes degradation of mood, energy level, behavior, and safety. In the NSF’s 1997 Survey on Sleeplessness, Pain and the Workplace, it was reported that back pain and other body aches or joint pain were the leading types of pain conditions experienced at night. The consequences of pain with sleep include: difficulty maintaining alertness, lack of energy, impaired mood, and trouble handling stress. A lack of sleep puts a person at a higher risk for injury, poor health, and accidents. Sleep studies in patients with acute pain, such as postoperative patients, and chronic pain, such as neuropathic & rheumatologic conditions, show frequent arousals, a hard time going back to sleep, and reduced time in REM sleep.

The major causes of sleep loss due to pain are back pain, headaches, facial pain caused by temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome, which is characterized by pain in and around the ears and soreness of the jaw muscles. Also, muscoloskeletal pain, which includes arthritis and fibromyalgia, can lead to poor sleep. Women report problems with visceral and abdominal pain as well as premenstrual cramping. It’s important to note that overall impact of visceral and abdominal pain in women is misunderstood. We need more studies in this area. Pain from cancer, the disease itself and its treatment, is also a major offender in causing poor sleep.

The International Association for the Study of Pain delineates 3 major types of pain: (1) acute pain, such as that resulting from an injury; (2) cancer-related pain; and (3) chronic nonmalignant pain. Chronic nonmalignant pain, which may be a result of injury or of unknown causes, is the type of pain most frequently associated with alteration of sleep.

1 2 3 »