New publication: Do women experience more intense pain? Does sleep loss exacerbate pain?

New review paper by PhD student Shima Rouhi and co-authors on the impact of sleep disturbance on pain perception!

Sleep loss is common in many chronic pain conditions. In people who don’t initially have pain, poor sleep predicts the future development of chronic pain conditions.

This review study investigated how sleep loss affects pain perception, focusing on sex differences, because women often experience increased pain sensitivity and are more susceptible to chronic pain.

We found that sleep loss tends to make pain feel more intense in women, while it reduces pain in men. Additionally, the study reveals that even small age differences can affect the sleep-pain relationship, highlighting the need for age considerations in future research. In practical terms, addressing sleep problems early,particularly in women, could help prevent worsening pain.

Read more about this paper published in Sleep Medicine Reviews.

Contact Shima at srouhi@student.unimelb.edu.au
@AmyJordanSleep
@NataliaBrumley 

Rouhi S.,  Topcu J., Egorova-Brumley N., Jordan A.S. The impact of sleep disturbance on pain perception: A systematic review examining the moderating effect of sex and age.  Sleep Medicine Reviews (2023), 101835.