Sleep Disturbance and The Experience of Chronic Pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sleep Disturbance and The Experience of Chronic Pain
IRAS ID
160599
Contact name
Esther F Afolalu
Contact email
Research summary
Chronic pain is a debilitating health problem and sleep impairment is one of the most common complaints in individuals suffering from chronic pain. Research in the field of chronic pain and sleep has assumed a roughly reciprocal relationship between the experience of pain and the process of sleep. However, findings from recent studies using more sophisticated research designs and techniques are suggesting that while sleep and chronic pain may indeed be bidirectionally linked, sleep disturbance may have stronger contributory effect on the experience, maintenance and perception of chronic pain than the effect of pain on sleep.
To date, the direct effect of sleep disturbances on pain has mostly been investigated in experiments using young, healthy volunteers. Generalisability of their findings to treatment seeking chronic pain patients has yet to be established. The current study aims to address this gap in the literature by first identifying the characteristics of sleep disturbance in two chronic pain conditions (namely fibromyalgia and chronic back pain) compared with healthy populations, and second, examining the association of these sleep characteristics with subsequent pain responses and functioning performances.
The proposed study will be carried out at the Sleep & Pain Laboratory at the University of Warwick where the participants will undergo two overnight sleep assessment and two daytime session testing of pain, cognitive, psychological and physical functioning.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/1138
Date of REC Opinion
30 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion