Do You Need More Sleep?

How much sleep should the average person get per night?  Or should we say, per day (since many studies highly recommend naps)?  Should people with chronic pain get more sleep?  Or is over sleeping causing more problems?

Required sleep has been a hot topic for years.  Some people claim they can get by with 4-5 hours of sleep (thus “adding” many more hours to the day), others say 7 is preferable, there’s the typical 8 hours, and others who say 9 or 10.

But an interesting study on sleep published in December edition of the journal Sleep is suggesting that, when it comes to pain, more may mean less.

18 healthy volunteers were in the study.  Some had their normal bedtimes for four nights, others had an “extended bedtime”.

On days 1 and 4 the patients took the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT), which measures daytime sleepiness.  This test is administered several times throughout the day.  They were also given a standard pain sensitivity test.

The group with the “extended bedtimes” slept 1.8 hours longer than the other group.  And – you got it – they were less sleepy during the day, and they were less sensitive to pain.

And we’re talking significantly less.  The study was then compared to other similar controlled studies, and the researchers concluded that the extra sleep was a better “painkiller” than 60mg of codeine.  Yes, that’s a fair bit of codeine.

But what about headache?

Now this test is important for those who are recovering from surgery, for example.  Doctors can tell them to try getting more sleep during their recovery time.

But what about those with chronic headache or migraine?

Many people actually find that over sleeping makes migraine worse.  And doesn’t it also make you dopey during the day?

Both these things are true, but neither mean that you can’t get more sleep.  Here’s how you can benefit instead of getting worse:

• The biggest danger for migraineurs seems to be change.  Don’t suddenly add two hours of sleep to your schedule, then three less.  If you’re going to try to get more sleep, add it gradually.  For example, sleeping in on the weekends could be a recipe for disaster.
• At the risk of being repetitive – get up at the same time every day.  Even if your bedtime schedule varies slightly, you may feel better overall if you get up at the same time.
• That being said, do try to get more sleep.  This probably means disciplining yourself to get to bed 5 or 10 minutes earlier each night for a while, until you reach your target.  It doesn’t have to be 10 hours – but aim for 8 minimum.
• Watch out for quality of sleep issues.  Watch out for the various types of sleep apnea and nocturia, and check our tips for getting to sleep with migraine.

Just for the record, according to the Mayo Clinic, the average amount of sleep the average healthy person should get is 7-9 hours for adults, 10-11 hours for school age children, 12-14 hours for toddlers, and 14-15 hours for infants.  Which means – if you have chronic pain – you might want to aim for the higher numbers.

New year’s resolution? 🙂