How Sleep and Physical Activity Affect Chronic Pain

Objectives: The objective of this study is to clarify how sleep and physical activities affect chronic pain.
Methods: Female TMD patients (n=7, 39.3±9.9 years old) and female non-TMD patients (n=9, 41.2±10.2 years old) were recruited in this study. Sleep condition and physical activities were recorded with Actigraph. Subjects were directed to wear Actigraph for 14 consecutive days and to answer following questionnaire everyday: 1) subjective jaw pain intensity at every three hours after awakening (visual analog scale); 2) subjective body pain intensity (visual analog scale); 3) subjective assessment of the quality of sleep (visual analog scale).These parameters were statistically analyzed using a mixed effect model in which patient’s age and the presence of menstruation were compensated.
Results: The higher the previous day’s physical activity (OR=0.992, p=.000, 95%CI: -0.0110~-0.0040) and the quality of last-night sleep (OR=0.997, p=.038, 95%CI: -0.0050~-0.0001), the lower the jaw pain in the first period (6-hours after awakening) became.
The higher the previous day’s physical activity (OR=0.997, p=.033, 95%CI: -0.0053~-0.0002) and the quality of last-night sleep (OR=0.993, p=.001, 95%CI: -0.0099~-0.0026), the lower the jaw pain in the second period became. The higher the jaw pain in the first period (OR=1.032, p=.000, 95%CI: 0.0245-0.0403) and body pain (OR=1.006, p=.022, 95%CI: 0.0009-0.0120), the higher the jaw pain in the second period (after the first period until bedtime) became.
The higher the total sleep time (OR=-0.001, p=.034, 95%CI: -0.0025~-0.0001), the physical activity (OR=0.996, p=.006, 95%CI: 0.0010~0.0064), and the quality of last-night sleep (OR=0.994, p=.010, 95%CI: -0.0094~-0.0013), the lower the body pain became. The higher the jaw pain in the first period (OR=1.012, p=.012, 95%CI: 0.0028-0.0228) and second period (OR=1.010, p=.019, 95%CI: 0.0016-0.0183), the higher the body pain became.
Conclusions: These results suggest that sleep with good quality and physical activities play an important role not only on chronic jaw pain but also chronic body pain.