Psychosomatic medicine
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Psychosomatic medicine · Nov 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialSleep deprivation affects thermal pain thresholds but not somatosensory thresholds in healthy volunteers.
Sleep disturbances have been thought to augment pain. Sleep deprivation has been proven to produce hyperalgesic effects. It is still unclear whether these changes are truly specific to pain and not related to general changes in somatosensory functions. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of total sleep deprivation on thermal pain thresholds (heat, cold) and pain complaints. Thermal detection thresholds (warmth, cold) were included as covariates to determine the contribution of somatosensory functions to changes in pain processing. ⋯ The present findings suggest that sleep deprivation produces hyperalgesic changes that cannot be explained by nonspecific alterations in somatosensory functions.