Monday, April 2, 2007

Even more reasons to get a good night's sleep

2 articles from WebMD that cite additional disadvantages of insufficient sleep.

Less sleep may mean less testosterone.
The study looked at older men, ages 64 to 74. Too bad they had such a small sample size (n=12), but they did manage to get published in the journal Sleep. The less they slept, the lower the concentration of testosterone in their systems.

Sleep disturbances heighten pain.
This study, also published in the journal Sleep, studied sleep patterns of 32 healthy women. Their findings:
"Our research shows that disrupted sleep, marked by multiple prolonged awakenings, impairs natural pain control mechanisms that are thought to play a key role in the development, maintenance, and exacerbation of chronic pain," says Smith."

In particular, new parents, shift workers, and especially insomniacs are at risk for lower pain thresholds, chronic pain, and less pain inhibition.
Makes me wonder if there are many studies on the relationship between pain and fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.

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