How does sleep affect chronic pain?
Sleep deprivation is a risk factor for chronic pain--and better sleep is part of the cure, says Michael Timothy Smith, MA, PhD, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Johns Hopkins University. Learn more in this HealthMakers video.
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] If you report restorative sleep, you're three times more likely to remit from chronic pain than if you don't report good sleep.
And if you report poor sleep, you're three times more likely to develop chronic pain in the next two years.
We know that sleep is a risk factor for developing chronic pain. It's also a protective factor, too.
So if someone has a chronic pain condition, say something called fibromyalgia for example, where you have widespread body pain, if you report restorative
sleep you're three times more likely to remit from chronic pain than if you don't report good sleep.
And if you report poor sleep, you're three times more likely to develop chronic pain in the next two years. So that's one example.
But depression is another. Poor sleep is a major risk factor for new onset major depression, as well as relapse in depression.
And those rates are threefold as well. And we know that sleep really needs to be a major aspect of treating depression now, because it
sets you up for relapse. And depression is a really chronic recurring condition. And sleep plays a major role in setting you up
for another episode. [AUDIO LOGO]
sleep disorders
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