Pain and Sleep Loss; What’s the Link?

Patients who report chronic pain often report sleep disturbances. And in a domino effect, that lack of sleep can make these patients even more sensitive to pain, referred to as CSD-induced hyperalgesia.

Scientists have long known that there is a relationship between poor sleep and pain, but weren’t clear the exact link. Now, researchers at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified one factor that links the two, and that a neurotransmitter called NADA may play a crucial role.

Using mice as test subjects, the researchers discovered that chronic sleep disruption lowered NADA levels in the brain, which increased the perception of pain, even without an actual increase in pain.

Read more here.