Insomnia

What are the most common causes of the pain and sleep problem?

The major disorders which cause pain and sleep disruption are back pain, headaches, and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome. TMJ is characterized by pain around the ears and jaw muscles.

Muscoloskeletal pain from arthritis and fibromyalgia also cause pain and sleep problems.

Premenstrual cramps occur pain and sleep problems in some women.

At least 40 million Americans each year suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders each year, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleeping problems. These disorders and the resulting sleep deprivation interfere with work, driving, and social activities. They also account for an estimated $16 billion in medical costs each year, while the indirect costs due to lost productivity and other factors are probably much greater. Doctors have described more than 70 sleep disorders, most of which can be managed effectively once they are correctly diagnosed. The most common sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.

Sleep and sleep-related problems play a role in a large number of human disorders and affect almost every field of medicine. For example, problems like stroke and asthma attacks tend to occur more frequently during the night and early morning, perhaps due to changes in hormones, heart rate, and other characteristics associated with sleep. Sleep also affects some kinds of epilepsy in complex ways. REM sleep seems to help prevent seizures that begin in one part of the brain from spreading to other brain regions, while deep sleep may promote the spread of these seizures. Sleep deprivation also triggers seizures in people with some types of epilepsy.

Although scientists are still trying to learn exactly why people need sleep, animal studies show that sleep is necessary for survival. For example, while rats normally live for two to three years, those deprived of REM sleep survive only about 5 weeks on average, and rats deprived of all sleep stages live only about 3 weeks. Sleep-deprived rats also develop abnormally low body temperatures and sores on their tail and paws. The sores may develop because the rats' immune systems become impaired. Some studies suggest that sleep deprivation affects the immune system in detrimental ways.

Teenagers are notorious for not meeting their total sleep requirement each night. Most literature indicates this due to societal demands and norms changing. Teenagers now have TV's, computers, video games, etc. in their bedrooms. So when they leave the family for the night, they do not retire to bed; but retire to play. They may not go to sleep until 1 or 2 a.m.. When they get up in the morning for school, they have accumulated 4 hours of sleep debt. By the weekend, even with binge sleeping, there is no way these teens can make up for sleep missed during the week nights.

Editor's Note:

"Race" is sometimes mentioned as a risk factor in the development of certain cancers and a number of other diseases. When you read this in a discussion about an illness, note that the explanation seldom refers to anything biological. Instead, it usually refers to behavior, such as eating habits. The kinds of behavior usually mentioned as risk factors are culturally determined. They are not genetic or biological.

A researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine recently investigated the factors contributing to insomnia among midlife women, asking to what extent can hot flashes in midlife women be considered a cause of chronic insomnia?