Current medical research and opinion
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Many patients with chronic pain experience pain-related sleep disturbances, such as difficulty falling and staying asleep and less restful sleep. Evidence suggests that pain and sleep exist in a bidirectional relationship in which pain causes sleep disturbance and sleep disturbance intensifies pain. This association can impair a patient's daily function and decrease quality of life. Evidence suggests that patients with chronic pain can use opioid analgesics or other pain medications to control their pain and, in turn, improve some measures of sleep. This may include subjective sleep measures such as increased sleep time, and, as evidenced in recent studies, objective sleep measures such as sleep efficiency. ⋯ Pain control achieved with pharmacotherapy, specifically opioid therapy, may help to improve sleep in patients for which opioid therapy is appropriate.