It's Not in Your Head
Welcome to It's Not in Your Head Podcast, with Dan and Juz. Dr. Dan is a Sports Physician and Justine a Pain Coach and patient. We have come together to find ways to manage complex pain better for both patients and providers. New episodes will come out bi-weekly on all major platforms.
It's Not in Your Head
22 Chronic Pain and Sleep: The Bidirectional Relationship & Clinical Management
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Sleep and pain have a deeply interconnected relationship — and chronic sleep disruption accelerates sensitization. This episode covers sleep fundamentals, how prolonged sleep deprivation affects cognitive function, and offers an analogy patients can use to explain what chronic pain fatigue actually feels like. Dr. Bates covers the clinical side, including sleep disorders, the role of snoring, and medications used to treat sleep disturbance. The follow-up episode addresses conservative management strategies for patients dealing with insomnia and 'painsomnia.'
Resources:
Timestamps:
00:00 Official Intro
00:18 Intro
03:28 Recap of The CS Algorithm
07:32 How do you sleep to explain your pain?
11:36 Sleep Basics
12:16 Sleep Cycles
16:47 Bi-directional effect, sleep architecture and alterations
20:22 Mechanistic Perspective
22:34 Sleep Needs
27:43 Sleep Disorders
35:12 Meds
42:24 Snoring
48:55 Wrap-up
49:47 Disclaimer