When Sleep Problems Arise from Pain-What’s keeping you awake?

There are times that you have aches and pains, you will likely lose a lot of sleep. When pains disrupts sleep, it may lead to difficulty maintaining alertness, lack of energy, impaired mood, and trouble handling stress. Lack of sleep can also put you at risk for injury, poor health, workplace accidents and motor vehicle crashes. Pain can cause difficulty falling asleep, nighttime awakenings, or waking too early in the morning. Hence, people who suffer from pain during sleep often find it difficult to function at their best. In fact, studies have shown that sleep loss can make a person more sensitive to pain. One study found that the kind of sleep deprivation caused by continuous sleep disturbances throughout the night in particular, caused an increase in spontaneous pain and impaired the body’s ability to process and cope with painful stimuli.

Whether it’s back pain, headaches, arthritis, or other health problems, you can work with your healthcare professional to identify the cause and find a treatment to improve your symptoms and your sleep. Managing pain and sleep problems requires a tailored plan to your needs that your healthcare professional may recommend a combination of treatments that includes medication, lifestyle changes or other therapies, such as exercises, relaxation techniques, dietary changes or learning to control muscle tension or other body functions. You may even consider visiting a pain specialist. With your discussion to your healthcare professional, it can help to share a complete description of your sleep experiences, including:

The number of hours you usually sleep each night
Whether you snore and if so how loudly
Whether you gasp for breath or stop breathing during sleep, are you awakening yourself with any of these symptoms
Whether you have unpleasant tingling or crawling sensations in your legs that are relieved by movement or not
How often you have difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep
Whether you feel sleepy during the day or fall asleep when reading, watching TV or driving
Whether you keep a regular bed and wake time
Your use and timing of alcohol or tobacco products
The time of day you use caffeinated products, exercise and eat your last meal
Whether you experience nighttime heartburn, pain or the need to urinate
Your level of stress and whether you have experienced lifestyle changes recently
Whether you are an evening, night or rotating shift worker
Your healthcare professional can provide information on medications, exercises, acupuncture or behavioral changes that may also be options. Some medications may alter your sleep patterns and make sleeping more difficult, so it is IMPERATIVE to make your healthcare professional aware of ALL medications (over-the-counter, herbs or prescribed) you are taking so that they can find the best treatment to manage both pain and sleep.