Effects of sleep deprivation on pain sensitivity in healthy subjects

Abstract

Introduction The relationship between sleep and pain has recently been seen as reciprocal. Pain may disturb sleep, but changes in sleep pattern could also influence pain perception. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of partial sleep deprivation (PSD) on electrical pain sensitivity in healthy adults. Materials and methods Twenty healthy male subjects with good sleep quality (age 20–39 years) were investigated twice, once after habitual sleep (HS) and once after partial sleep deprivation. Overnight polysomnographic recordings were done during the night of HS, and actigraphic recordings were done during the night of PSD (2 h of time-in-bed at dawn). Electrical pain detection thresholds and tolerance thresholds were measured in the morning after each night. Subjective pain intensity during repetitive electrical pain stimulation was measured with visual analogue scale, and sleepiness was measured with Stanford sleepiness scale. All subjects completed daily sleep and pain diaries during the experimental period. Results Total sleep time of HS and PSD nights were 449 i3/4 20.6 min and 96.1 i3/4 12.3 min. Compared to HS, PSD decreased significantly electrical pain detection threshold (28.5 i3/4 4.5 mA vs. 23.6 i3/4 5.4 mA, p p p p Conclusion These findings suggest that reduced sleep time is associated with increased pain sensitivity, and there is an interaction between sleep and the brain mechanism of pain perception.