TITLE

WHY IT HURTS TO LOSE SLEEP

DESCRIPTION

This is a fabulous article that delves deeply into how research in both the areas of pain and sleep are conducted.  Even better:  it is easy for beginning students to understand how the research is conducted.  Advanced students will find it fascinating as well.  Researchers found that sleep deprivation was directly related to affecting the brain’s pain management system and reduced an individuals pain threshold.

“Veteran insomniacs know in their bones what science has to say about sleep deprivation and pain: that the two travel together, one fueling the other.  For instance, people who develop chronic pain often lose the ability to sleep well, and quickly point to a bad back, sciatica or arthritis as the reason. The loss of sleep, in turn, can make a bad back feel worse, and the next night’s slumber even more difficult.”

SOURCE

New York Times, January 28, 2019, by Benedict Carey

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/health/sleep-pain-research.html

(Tiny URL)  http://tinyurl.com/y8q274oq

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

••What is sleep?

•Why and how do Psychologists study sleep?

•What is pain?  How is the research conducted?

•What has been found in the relation of sleep deprivation and pain perception?  How is the brain affected?