Pain-related sleep loss is a real problem. The 2015 Sleep in AmericaTM Poll found that 21 percent of Americans experience chronic pain. It also found that 36 percent of people have experienced acute pain in the last week.
The question is why we are in so much pain. A few of the more well-known factors include:
When you are in chronic or acute pain, it’s much harder to be happy, stay motivated, manage stress, and stay active. Very importantly, the vicious cycle of being in pain is how it impact sleep.
It’s a vicious cycle because pain makes you lose sleep, and loss of sleep can deeply impact your well-being in a negative way, particularly happiness, staying active, staying motivated, and managing stress (37 percent of people with chronic pain reported elevated stress level compared to 7 percent of pain-free people who reported the same).
Based on the above linked survey, there are two results for people who live with pain:
There is a direct link between pain and sleep loss. These results can be compared to people who aren’t in pain, based on the survey:
Not only does pain cause you to sleep less, but it impacts the quality of sleep as well. This seems to be particularly true in the case of chronic pain. As an aside, 23 percent of people with chronic pain reported being diagnosed with a sleep disorder by a doctor, compared to just 6 percent of pain free people. It’s quite a sobering statistic.
Though you might not be able to take away the pain, there are main steps you can take to help improve your chances of getting a restful night’s sleep. Here are some good examples:
Doing all of these can make a huge difference in your sleep time and quality, especially if you have chronic pain.
If you live in Alaska, have pain, and can’t seem to sleep no matter what you do, please reach out to us by taking this free sleep survey.