A good night’s sleep will do more than help you feel rested and
refreshed. A new study suggests that getting more sleep will
also reduce your sensitivity to pain. “Our results suggest the
importance of adequate sleep in various chronic pain conditions
or in preparation for elective surgical procedures,” said lead
author Timothy Roehrs, PhD, of the Sleep Disorders and Research
Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. The small study by
researchers at Henry Ford and Wayne State University involved 18
healthy, pain-free, and tired volunteers. They were randomly
assigned to either four nights of their usual amount of sleep or
an extended sleep period of 10 hours in bed per night. The
extended sleep group slept an average of 1.8 hours more per
night. The added sleep not only increased their daytime
alertness, it also reduced their sensitivity to pain in a heat
test. The well-rested group kept their finger on a radiant heat
source 25 percent longer than the control group; even though the
control group was given a