TY - JOUR
T1 - The pain of sleep loss
T2 - A brain characterization in humans
AU - Krause, Adam J.
AU - Prather, Aric A.
AU - Wager, Tor D.
AU - Lindquist, Martin A.
AU - Walker, Matthew P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 the authors.
PY - 2019/3/20
Y1 - 2019/3/20
N2 - Sleep loss increases the experience of pain. However, the brain mechanisms underlying altered pain processing following sleep deprivation are unknown. Moreover, it remains unclear whether ecologically modest night-to-night changes in sleep, within an individual, confer consequential day-to-day changes in experienced pain. Here, we demonstrate that acute sleep deprivation amplifies pain reactivity within human (male and female) primary somatosensory cortex yet blunts pain reactivity in higher-order valuation and decision-making regions of the striatum and insula cortex. Consistent with this altered neural signature, we further show that sleep deprivation expands the temperature range for classifying a stimulus as painful, specifically through a lowering of pain thresholds. Moreover, the degree of amplified reactivity within somatosensory cortex following sleep deprivation significantly predicts this expansion of experienced pain across individuals. Finally, outside of the laboratory setting, we similarly show that even modest nightly changes in sleep quality (increases and decreases) within an individual determine consequential day-to-day changes in experienced pain (decreases and increases, respectively). Together, these data provide a novel framework underlying the impact of sleep loss on pain and, furthermore, establish that the association between sleep and pain is expressed in a night-to-day, bidirectional relationship within a sample of the general population. More broadly, our findings highlight sleep as a novel therapeutic target for pain management within and outside the clinic, including circumstances where sleep is frequently short yet pain is abundant (e.g., the hospital setting).
AB - Sleep loss increases the experience of pain. However, the brain mechanisms underlying altered pain processing following sleep deprivation are unknown. Moreover, it remains unclear whether ecologically modest night-to-night changes in sleep, within an individual, confer consequential day-to-day changes in experienced pain. Here, we demonstrate that acute sleep deprivation amplifies pain reactivity within human (male and female) primary somatosensory cortex yet blunts pain reactivity in higher-order valuation and decision-making regions of the striatum and insula cortex. Consistent with this altered neural signature, we further show that sleep deprivation expands the temperature range for classifying a stimulus as painful, specifically through a lowering of pain thresholds. Moreover, the degree of amplified reactivity within somatosensory cortex following sleep deprivation significantly predicts this expansion of experienced pain across individuals. Finally, outside of the laboratory setting, we similarly show that even modest nightly changes in sleep quality (increases and decreases) within an individual determine consequential day-to-day changes in experienced pain (decreases and increases, respectively). Together, these data provide a novel framework underlying the impact of sleep loss on pain and, furthermore, establish that the association between sleep and pain is expressed in a night-to-day, bidirectional relationship within a sample of the general population. More broadly, our findings highlight sleep as a novel therapeutic target for pain management within and outside the clinic, including circumstances where sleep is frequently short yet pain is abundant (e.g., the hospital setting).
KW - Pain
KW - Sleep deprivation
KW - fMRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063605623&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85063605623&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2408-18.2018
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2408-18.2018
M3 - Article
C2 - 30692228
AN - SCOPUS:85063605623
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 39
SP - 2291
EP - 2300
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 12
ER -