Elevated inflammatory markers in response to prolonged sleep restriction are associated with increased pain experience in healthy volunteers

Haack M, Sanchez E, Mullington JM · Sleep

Sleep restriction raised IL-6 and increased spontaneous pain ratings; elevated IL-6 correlated strongly with pain (r=0.67, p<0.01) — experimental evidence that sleep loss amplifies pain via inflammation.

Population

18 healthy volunteers in a 16-day inpatient laboratory study

Intervention

12 nights of sleep restricted to 4 h/night

Comparator

8 h/night sleep

Limitations

Healthy volunteers, not joint-disease patients; n=18; short duration; pain measured by self-report.