Pain and Sleep
By Dr. Dan Hilton
In
Oral Health
February 20, 2020
When you have aches and pains, you are also likely to lose a lot of sleep. When pain 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.
Remember pain and sleep is a two way street. 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 addition, sleep loss can make a person more sensitive to pain. Sleep deprivation caused by continuous sleep disturbances through out the night can cause an increase in spontaneous pain and impair the body’s ability to process and cope with painful stimuli.
The key is to understand your pain and your sleep. Determine the source of your pain (dental pain, headaches, back pain, arthritis, or other health problems), work with your doctor or dentist to identify the cause and find a treatment to improve your symptoms and your sleep. As a resident at UCLA in Orofacial Pain and Sleep Medicine, Dr. Hilton understands the relationship between pain and sleep and can advise and guide you with your condition.