Pat Anson, PNN Editor
Do you wake up at night with pain? A surprising number of Americans are unable to sleep through the night because of “pain,” according to a new survey.
Nearly 98% of US adults surveyed by the Sleep Foundation say they experience pain at least one night a week. About 85% said their pain required him to get at least two hours of sleep each night, and the average respondent said he lost six hours of sleep a week.
Back pain was the most common reason for insomnia (56%), followed by neck pain (41%), head pain (32%) and knee pain (29%).
Alex Dimitriu, M.D., founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and a member of the Sleep Foundation’s Medical Review Board, said: “Even mild pain can cause varying degrees of insomnia, resulting in difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.”
Adults living with pain sleep an average of 6.7 hours, less than the recommended 7–9 hours. , has been found to create a vicious cycle. Lack of sleep leads to more pain and vice versa.
Medhat Mikhael, M.D., Ph.D., Pain Management Specialist and Medical Director, Spine Health Center, Orange Coast Medical Center, Fountain Valley, California. “The lack of sleep also worries me, and I can’t sleep. It makes me tired and in more pain.”
When asked to rate their pain on a scale of 0 to 10, 73% of respondents with chronic pain said their nighttime pain was level 5 or higher. More than half (57%) say they wake up at least three times during the night, and 41% say they wake up earlier than they would like. A good night’s sleep reduces your ability to recover and increases your sensitivity to pain, experts say.
“Sleep is not just quantity, it’s quality,” says Dimitriu. “If you fall asleep too late, your circadian rhythm may be delayed and you may enter the sleep phase cycle. And if you wake up too early, your sleep cycle may be advanced and you may feel tired early in the evening.”
What are people doing about sleep deprivation? More than half (56%) of respondents who had trouble sleeping due to pain had taken a sleep aid in the past month. Melatonin was the most popular (49%), followed by diphenhydramine/benadryl (23%).
A surprising number of people say that connecting with others in a pain support group helps them sleep. Although she says only one in five people with pain participated in a support group, interacting with other pain sufferers helped them better manage their sleep, 91% said they were able to understand and learn how to improve.
This Sleep Foundation survey was conducted online in June 2022. Results are from her 1,250 participants aged 18 and over who reside in the United States.
