Losing Sleep and pain Tolerance

Chronic sleep loss has many downsides, among them weight gain, depression and irritability. But now scientists a new one: It also weakens your tolerance for pain.

In recent studies, researchers have shown that losing sleep may disrupted the body`s pain signalling system, heightening
sensitivity to painful stimuli. 

Although it is not clear why, one theory is that sleep loss increases inflammation.

Scientists believe this could have implications for people with chronic pain. It could also have an impact on the effects of the painkillers, which appear to be blunted after chronic sleep loss.

In one study published in the journal sleep, scientists at the sleep disorders and research at Centre Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit recruited 18 healthy adults and split them into two groups. 

One was allowed to sleep for an average of nine hours, while the other averaged two fewer hours sleep each night.

To access pain thresholds, the researchers measured how long the subjects were able to hold a finger to a source of radiant heat. 

 After four nights, the group that was allowed to sleep the longest was able to withstand the painful stimuli much longer, by about 25% on average.

Several previous studies have had similar findings, including one in 2006 that showed that one night of cutting sleep in half could significantly reduce a person`s threshold for physical pain.

“Disturbed key is a key complaint of people experiencing acute and chronic pain,” a report concluded that, “These two vital functions, sleep and pain, interact in complex ways that ultimately impact the biological and the behavioural capacity of the individual.”

Chronic sleep loss appears to lower tolerance for pain, although it`s not clear why.