1. • Previous studies have been conducted to determine if
sleep affects pain in adults, and if pain affects sleep in
children.
• Past research has examined hours of sleep adults receive
in relation to their pain experience. When hours of sleep
were restricted, adults aged 18-31 had a lower threshold
(defined as when they first reported pain) when exposed
to cold water (Ødegård, 2014).
• In one study, children with Functional Abdominal Pain
had a higher level of sleeping problems than healthy
controls (higher rates for different sleeping disorders)
(Huntley, 2007).
• Limited research has been conducted examining the
impact of sleep on pain tolerance in children.
.
Hours of sleep and their effect on pain tolerance
Dana Kobrin, Chad Byrd
Lynnda Dahlquist, PhD., Samantha Bento, B.A., Julia Zeroth, M.A., Department of Psychology
Introduction
Objectives
• The purpose of the present study is to examine the
relation between children’s sleep quantity and their pain
tolerance in response to an acute pain task.
Participants and Measures
Procedure
Conclusion
References
Participants
• 81 healthy children between the age of 6 and 13 years old
(M=9.15, SD= 2.22)
• 58% male
• 76.5% Caucasian/White, 13.6% African American/Black,
3.7% Hispanic, 3.7 % biracial, 1.2% Asian/Pacific Islander,
1.3% Other.
Measures
• Pain tolerance: Pain tolerance was measured as the time
(in seconds) that children kept their non-dominant hand
submerged in cold water (set at 7°C).
• Sleep: Sleep from the night before participation was
measured by the participant and their parent. Both child
and parent rated in hours what time they/their child fell
asleep and woke up, and asked if the times were the
same, earlier, or later than normal. The participant was
also asked to rate how tired they felt while they were
participating in the study.
• After informed consent was obtained, participants completed the sleep
questionnaire.
• The investigator first warmed the participant’s hand in warm water (90° F) for one
minute in order to set a standard baseline starting temperature.
• Participants then placed their hand in a cold water bath (set at 7° C). They were
instructed by the investigator to keep their hand in as long as possible, but to
remove it when the pain became too intense or intolerable.
• Pain tolerance time was recorded once the child removed their hand from the
water.
Results
Table 2
Correlation between pain tolerance and sleep
Sleep (hours) Age
Pain Tolerance
-.307
**
.493
**
Age
-.435
**
-
**p < .01 (2-tailed).
• The pain tolerance scores were log10 transformed due to
significant skewness.
• Total hours of sleep was negatively correlated with children’s
pain tolerance (r = -.31, p < .01) such that children with more
sleep generally had a lower pain tolerance.
• Age significantly predicted pain tolerance (r = .49, p < .001)
such that older children had higher pain tolerance times than
did younger children.
• When age was controlled, the relation between sleep and pain
tolerance was no longer significant (r = -.07, p = .55)
• The expected relation between sleep and pain was not
evident. Once age was controlled, the correlation between
sleep and pain tolerance was no longer present.
• Another factor to consider is children’s quality of sleep rather
than quantity. The findings in this study do not show a
significant correlation between quantity of sleep and pain. It is
possible that the expected relation with sleep predicting pain
would be present when the sleep variable is considering
quality rather than quantity of sleep.
• Future studies should consider examining gender differences
as Reidy, Dimmick, MacDonald, and Zeichner (2009) found
men and women experiences pain tolerance and trait
aggression differently.
Acknowledgements
This work was partly funded by the Graduate Student
Association (GSA) of UMBC.
Huntley, E. D., Campo, J. V., Dahl, R. E., & Lewin, D. S. (2007). Sleep characteristics of youth with
functional abdominal pain and a healthy comparison group. Journal Of Pediatric Psychology, 32(8),
938-949.
Lewin, D. S., & Dahl, R. E. (1999). Importance of sleep in the management of pediatric pain. Journal
Of Developmental And Behavioral Pediatrics, 20(4), 244-252.
Ødegård, S. S., Omland, P. M., Nilsen, K. B., Stjern, M., Gravdahl, G. B., & Sand, T. (2015). The effect
of sleep restriction on laser evoked potentials, thermal sensory and pain thresholds and
suprathreshold pain in healthy subjects. Clinical Neurophysiology, 126(10), 1979-1987.
Reidy, D. E., Dimmick, K., MacDonald, K., & Zeichner, A. (2009). The relationship between pain
tolerance and trait aggression: Effects of sex and gender role. Aggressive Behavior, 35(5), 422-429.
Table 1
Pain Tolerance and Sleep
M SD
Pain Tolerance 31.70 32.94
Sleep 9.58 1.12