How To Get Quality Sleep In The Face Of Chronic Pain

April 17, 2024 / Thomas Cohn, MD

sleep Restful sleep is incredibly important to our overall health. When we’re well rested, our body has time to recover from the rigors of the previous day, and we have more energy to attack today with exercise and activity. Conversely, poor sleep quality can do just the opposite. If we’re not getting great sleep, we may be more sedentary throughout the day and pain sensitivity can also increase. It is very important to work to get quality sleep.

With that said, quality restful sleep isn’t always easy to come by, especially if you are dealing with a pain condition that makes it harder for you to fall asleep or stay asleep. You may have to work a little harder to achieve restful sleep in the face of a chronic pain condition, but it can be done and it will be worth it. In today’s blog, we share some tips for achieving restful sleep despite dealing with a chronic pain condition.

Improving Your Sleep Quality If You Have Chronic Pain

We know that chronic pain is unique to the individual, so we don’t expect all of these tips to work perfectly for every single person battling a pain condition. However, if you really commit to one or more of these techniques, we’re confident that you’ll eventually find a way to improve your sleep quality. Here’s what we suggest.

Turn Off Distractions – For starters, keep your phone out of arm’s reach and don’t fall asleep to a television program in bed. These blue light sources can strain our eyes and make our brain more alert, which in turn makes it harder for you to relax and fall asleep. Try to make the last 15-30 minutes or more before bed a technology-free time.

Deep Breathing – You can help your body become more relaxed by practicing some deep breathing or meditation exercises right before bedtime. Focus on your breathing patterns and feel yourself begin to calm down and relax. Try to block out your mind from any sources of stress and really just work on clearing your head.

Exercise During The Day – Many people find that they fall asleep faster and sleep better if they are physically active during the day. Your body craves activity, and challenging your body with activity is physically exhausting. Sometimes feelings of anxiousness or restlessness at bedtime can be controlled by making it a point to exercise during the day. Exercise is also great for chronic pain management.

Avoid Caffeine and Naps – It may also be helpful to ditch the caffeine and naps, especially in the afternoon or evening if you want to fall asleep faster at night. We know that a nap can recharge your batteries and help you get through the day, but it can also make it harder to fall asleep at night. Try to avoid napping and consuming large amounts of caffeine in the hours before bed. A coffee to start your morning shouldn’t cause any problems at night, but a soda with dinner may, so be mindful of what you put in your body before bed.

Dive Into A Pain Management Plan – If pain is the main reason you’re struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep, we urge you to talk with a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn to develop a personalized care plan. By making small adjustments to your daily life with things like increased exercise, dietary improvements, medication management, posture awareness and physical therapy techniques, we’re confident we can help you find ways to reduce or eliminate your chronic pain, which can make it easier for you to relax and fall asleep at night. Chronic pain and poor sleep quality can build off one another, so really commit to a pain management plan, and you may find that your sleep quality dramatically improves.

For help overcoming personalized sleep issues that you’re dealing with, or for assistance managing your unique chronic pain situation, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Can You Sleep Your Way To Less Chronic Pain?

January 15, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

As we’ve talked about on the blog in the past, there is a clear link between sleep health and pain sensitivity, and we’re going to further explore the interconnections of these two things in today’s blog. A recent study published in the Journal of Science built on our knowledge of this connection, which leads to the question, can we sleep ourselves out of the cycle of chronic pain?

For their study, researchers took a closer look at a person’s brain and the pathways through which pain is perceived. This is the area that processes pain stimuli. In other words, it tells us where the pain sensation we’re feeling is coming from. This pain signal then moves to the insula, a part of the brain that integrates incoming signals and forms our perception of pain. Finally, that signal is sent to the nucleus accumbens, an area that plays a significant role in decision-making, reward and pain evaluation.

During their research, the team found that the activity of the nucleus accumbens in sleep deprived patients differed from those who regularly receive adequate amounts of sleep. The nucleus accumbens helps to dull incoming pain signals, but this process doesn’t occur as frequently or as greatly in patients who are sleep deprived.

Takeaways

The findings are in line with a previous study that found that burn victims increased their opioid consumption after just one night of interrupted sleep, which also reinforces the idea that sleep quality and our perception of pain is linked. But what does that mean for the average patient with chronic pain? It means you should focus on getting a healthy amount of quality sleep while also pairing that restful period with physical activity during the day. You’re not going to get rid of your chronic pain by laying in bed all day, but you’re also due for trouble if you get six hours of interrupted sleep each night.

Check out this old blog post on ways to improve your sleep quality, but we’ll provide some quick tips here. Get in the habit of going to bed at roughly the same time each night, make the room cool and as dark as possible, and avoid reading, watching Netflix or scrolling through your phone while in bed. Make the bedroom a place for sleeping and your body will begin to get in the habit of falling asleep and staying asleep. Also, avoid caffeine or alcohol late in the day as those beverages can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Finally, you also need to pair this quality rest with activity. You need to put in some work to overcome your pain, whether that’s in the form of physical therapy, daily exercise or a regular stretching routine. These activites will help to increase our pain threshold and strengthen supportive muscle groups that can help prevent pain. Be active during the day and work on achieving quality sleep at night, and you may soon find your chronic pain under control! For help with any of this, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

How To Improve Your Sleep Quality

September 30, 2019 / Thomas Cohn, MD

sleep Everyone wants to sleep better. Problems with sleep are now pervasive in today’s society, and there are many culprits. Medical sleep experts are taking a deeper dive into the dynamics of sleep and are now starting to have a more comprehensive approach to issues. In the past, sleep problems were overly simple and only a few problems were considered. Sleep apnea was the main concern, then restless legs became another area. At sometime it became a matter of taking the correct sleep medication; the right pill was the answer, but we’re learning more about better techniques.

Poor sleep leads to multiple problems. The simple one is fatigue with difficulty functioning at an appropriate level. Compounding being tired is mood changes from anxiety to depression and even more severe psychiatric disorders. Sleep deprivation also leads to a large number of health problems including weight gain, hypertension, heart disease and possibly late neurological problems like dementia.

The New Science in Sleep

The new science in sleep is now paying closer attention to whether the person is trying to follow their normal circadian rhythm. Most people have normal sleep times and baseline cycles. Some people are morning people, while others like to stay up late and sleep in during the morning. These are natural cycles one is often born into, and trying to work against the natural tendencies often leads to additional sleep difficulties. Working within your natural cycle for sleep can diminish ongoing sleep problems. If you are a night owl, trying to be awake at the crack of dawn is likely just to cause problems.

Recognizing your own natural tendencies towards sleep can reduce anxiety and improve the quality. I am not a night owl at all, therefore when I chose a specialty in medicine I knew I wanted to be able to sleep at night. I knew I could not function well in the middle of the night so I needed a specialty where I could usually sleep at night. Throughout college I only pulled one all night routine. I almost always went to sleep before midnight and then awoke early to do whatever had to be done. My spouse is just the opposite and is up to all hours of the night routinely and hates mornings, and hates the cheerful me as I start exercising at the crack of dawn.

During the daytime our brains are processing new information and making new connections. At night the brain is doing its housekeeping, removing toxins and cementing into place the information acquired during the day. Nighttime also is the time the brain works on processing emotional connections. Time spent asleep is when the brain does all the background work to maintain health and is not interrupted by functions that are needed when alert and awake.

For healthy sleep and general ability to stay awake during the day, maintaining a regular circadian cycle is necessary. There are multiple things that one can do to improve your sleep. The first thing is to consider using a 10,000-lux light box in the morning to mimic sunlight for 30 minutes. This will help stimulate the brain to wake up and be less tired. At night, go to bed when you are tired. Do not lie around in bed waiting to fall asleep. Bedtime preparation is important. Stop working 1-2 hours before bed and avoid thinking about provocative topics prior to sleep. As part of the wind down, do something calming like reading or listening to music. Avoid looking at screens and social media. Lastly, avoid caffeine and stimulants late in the day as well as alcohol within two hours of sleep. Alcohol after the first hour of a sedative effect tends to make the brain alert after it is metabolized.

Having good sleep habits as well as working with your natural circadian rhythm improves the ability to successfully sleep and feel rested. It improves brain function and overall health in many ways. When sleep is a problem and the simple issues are addressed, then working with a medical sleep specialist is important to identify and address the causes of poor sleep.

Relearning How To Sleep With Chronic Pain

July 22, 2019 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Chronic pain can make daily tasks seem impossible, and one of the most common areas of your life affected by chronic pain is your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. For many people, they need to relearn how to achieve quality sleep because it no longer comes naturally thanks to their pain condition. In today’s blog, we share some tips for relearning how to get restful sleep, because quality sleep plays an important role in controlling chronic pain.

Getting A Good Night’s Sleep With Chronic Pain

Here are some tips for falling asleep and staying asleep if you deal with a chronic pain condition.

1. Regular Bed Time – Get in the habit of going to bed around the same time every night. You body has what’s known as a circadian rhythm that helps regulate awake and tired periods for your body, and if you get up and go to bed around the same time, this will help you body find a good circadian rhythm. Even if you struggle to fall asleep right away, going to bed and laying down around the same time at night will help your internal body clock.

2. Lose The Distractions – The bedroom needs to be a place for sleeping, not for reading on your iPad or clicking around on Netflix. Research has shown that the bright lights of screens in dark rooms can stimulate our brain at a time when we want to be winding down. Read or watch TV out in the living room so that the bedroom becomes a place where you focus on achieving quality sleep.

3. Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol – In the hours before bed, avoid certain liquids that can inhibit restful sleep, like caffeine and alcohol. Even though alcohol may help you fall asleep, it disrupts your ability to achieve REM sleep, the deep and quality type of sleep you need to receive. Avoid these liquids as the sun begins to set.

4. Water Intake – If you’re looking for something to drink, go with water, but make sure you’re cognizant about your water intake. If you’re even slightly dehydrated when you go to bed, it can cause your mouth and nasal passages to become dry and lead to disruptive snoring. However, drinking too much water can lead to the need to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Play around with your water intake in the hours leading up to bed so you are hydrated when you crawl into bed.

5. Temperature and Noise – Finally, the key to quality sleep is to stay asleep once you’re out. You don’t have a lot of control over this, but you can help by ensuring your bedroom has the right temperature and noise level. Keep the room cool and use blankets to get comfortable, and find out if noise helps or hinders your ability to fall asleep. Some people like white noise machines, others like the drum of a fan, while others need complete silence. See what helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, and then recreate those conditions each night.

For more tips on falling asleep if you have chronic pain, or for help with your specific pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

How Much Sleep Is Chronic Pain Costing You?

June 19, 2018 / Thomas Cohn, MD

In order to fall asleep, we usually need to have a calm physical and mental presence, and that can be very difficult to achieve if you have chronic pain. Chronic pain conditions can make it difficult for patients to not only fall asleep, but stay asleep. In order to get a better understanding of how chronic pain affects the amount of sleep we receive, we turn to two recent studies on the matter.

Chronic Pain and Sleep Deprivation

For the first study, the National Sleep Foundation wanted to see how chronic pain impacted sleep duration and sleep quality. After looking at the data, researchers found that individuals with chronic pain had an average of a 42-minute sleep deficit between the amount of sleep they need and the amount they are getting.

“The relationship between pain and sleep is complex, as the consequences of sleep problems can affect perception to pain and, in turn, pain can interfere with sleep quality,” said Professor Robert Landewe, Chairperson of the Scientific Programme Committee, EULAR. “This is why these studies are important as they help elucidate the role of sleep in chronic pain and highlight it as a potentially important modifiable risk factor for alleviating the distress in these patients.”

Researchers also wanted to see if sleep problems could predict the eventual onset of chronic pain. The four sleep factors they analyzed were:

Initiating Sleep
Maintaining Sleep
Early Morning Waking
Non-Restorative Sleep

According to researchers, all factors except early morning waking predicted the onset of chronic widespread pain at 18 years.

“Our results demonstrate that sleep problems are an important predictor for chronic pain prognosis and highlight the importance of the assessment of sleep quality in the clinics,” said Katarina Aili, PhD, of the Spenshult Research and Development Center in Sweden.

Anxiety and Chronic Pain

In the second study, researchers explored the link between chronic pain, anxiety and the inability to achieve restful sleep. When compared with a normal population, individuals with chronic pain were much more likely to report both anxiety and severe sleep problems.

“Although the relationship between sleep and pain is complex, our results clearly indicate a strong association which needs to be explored further,” said Julia S. Malmborg, PhD student at Halmstad University. “As both problems affect the physiological and psychological well-being of sufferers we hope that these results will be used by school health professionals to promote student health.”

Getting good sleep is hard enough before chronic pain gets in the way, but if you want to give yourself the best chance to fall asleep and stay asleep, consider the following tips: