The Importance of Sleep in Chronic Pain
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Upon falling asleep, a person enters stage one and stage two sleep, which is a very light sleep. After approximately 90 minutes, the person will enter stage four, or deep sleep. It is during deep sleep that hormones, like growth hormone, are secreted. Growth hormone is one of the anabolic hormones that the body needs to repair itself. If a person does not enter the deep stages of sleep, the ability to repair injured tissue is hampered. More than 50 percent of body weight is muscle tissue. It is imperative that the body is able to repair this muscle tissue from its daily use. The body does its repair during the deep stages of sleep. If this is not accomplished, the end result is muscle aching. Do you see the cycle? A person has a localized pain, such as neck pain, that does not resolve. Eventually, the chronic pain causes chronic insomnia. The chronic insomnia causes a decrease in the body's ability to repair itself. This causes pain to move to other parts of the body, causing more insomnia. A vicious cycle continues.
In a 1976 study, Harvey Moldofsky, M.D., solicited healthy volunteers and allowed them to sleep only in stages one and two. Dr. Moldofsky put electrodes on their heads and gave them a little zap, not enough to wake them but enough to keep them from achieving stage four sleep, the deep stage of sleep. Guess how long it took before the previously healthy volunteers had diffuse body aches and tender points? Seven days!
Chronic insomnia is the number one reason people have diffuse body aching. To cure diffuse body aching, the cause of the chronic insomnia must be found. If the chronic insomnia began because of a pain complaint at a particular part of the body, then there is an excellent chance that Prolotherapy can cure the problem. If the chronic insomnia is due to a marital problem, job stress, or other psychological issues, then this is the area that needs to be addressed. Everyone should find a way to reduce their stress level. Let's face it, we all experience stress in our lives. Everyone should find some outlet to relieve stress in their lives - whether reading alone in front of a fire, bashing a racquetball against the wall, running until you can run no more, meditation, prayer, or whatever you feel you need.
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