Chronic pain is a disabling problem that could affect as many as 1 out of every 5 adult Americans. It is a costly and tragic collection of disorders that often has limited and disappointing treatment options. Could sleep be a central mediator of chronic pain? Could it be a pathway for treatment? In this episode we will:
- Contrast the relationship between pain causing disturbed sleep with the condition of disturbed sleep itself causing pain
- Examine study numbers showing the high incidence of disturbed sleep in patients with chronic pain
- Consider that while many patients with disturbed sleep have concurrent depression, a much higher cohort complains of disturbed sleep
- Revisit a 2006 study I highlighted in my first book that shows increased pain indices following relatively trivial reductions in total sleep and REM sleep
- Extend this concept as it relates to high incidence of chronic pain in military veterans with sleep disorders/disturbances
- View the relationship through the lens of a 2022 Harvard study confirming a relationship but stopping short of endorsing causation
- List ways in which sleep considerations could be utilized to improve pain conditions
Produced by: Maeve Winter
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Thanks for listening and sleep well!
