Poor Sleep Can Make Normal Pain Feel Louder

Here’s why, and what you can do tonight!

If you’ve been dealing with back, knee, hip, shoulder pain, you’ve probably noticed something frustrating: When you sleep poorly, everything hurts more the next day. That’s not “in your head.” It’s your nervous system doing exactly what it’s designed to do — just a little too intensely when you’re running on low sleep.

Why poor sleep can turn pain up

Think of your body like it has a “volume knob” for pain. Good sleep helps keep that knob at a normal level. But when sleep is short, choppy, or not deep enough, your brain becomes more alert to danger signals. And then pain signals can start to feel louder — even if nothing “new” happened to your back or joint.

In simple terms:  With less sleep,  your body gets more sensitive.

Here’s the loop we see all the time:

1. Pain makes it hard to sleep
2. Poor sleep makes you more sensitive to pain
3. More sensitivity makes pain feel worse
4. Worse pain makes sleep even harder
5.  

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone — and the good news is: you can break the cycle.

3 small changes that can help you tonight

You don’t need a perfect routine. Simply start with one of these:

1)    Keep the same wake-up time (even on weekends)
This helps reset your body clock faster than almost anything.

2)    Give yourself a “screen buffer”
Try putting your cell phone or tablet away 30–60 minutes before bed.
If you can’t do that, at least dim the brightness and avoid scrolling in bed.

3)    Try a 5-minute wind-down for your nervous system
Before bed, do one of these for 5 minutes:

• Slow down your breathing (inhale 4 seconds, exhale 6 seconds)
• Gentle stretching (nothing aggressive)
• A warm shower or heating pad on tight areas

These small steps tell your body: “You’re safe. You can relax.”