Ease Your Pain With Sleep

Sometimes, the simplest health solutions are the best. If you suffer from chronic pain, researchshows that simply getting more sleep can tone down your sensitivity.

“Our results suggest the importance of adequate sleep in various chronic pain conditions or in preparation for elective surgical procedures,” says researcher Timothy Roehrs, Ph.D. “We were surprised by the magnitude of the reduction in pain sensitivity, when compared to the reduction produced by taking codeine.”

When study participants slept about two hours more per night, their pain sensitivity dropped by about 25 percent. The researchers report that the magnitude of benefit is greater than the effect found in a previous study of 60 mg of codeine.