Sommeil et douleur : données physiologiques chez l'homme

A better knowledge of the physiological mechanisms concerned by both sleep and pain is crucial in order to improve the management of patients with chronic pain, since more than half of them also has sleep disorders. These mechanisms, still poorly understood, involve a reciprocal relationship between sleep and pain, pain interfering with sleep stability and poor sleep enhancing pain. Furthermore, a third mechanism is suggested, which entails a shared factor of vulnerability related to that of depression.