Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 14, 2025
08:36
Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments
Published on: August 8, 2019
12.1K
Assessing racial/ethnic differences in sleep-pain relationships using intensive longitudinal modeling among Native
Jamie L Rhudy1,2, Parker A Kell1,3, Joanna O Shadlow4
1TSET Health Promotion Research Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK, United States.
Sleep
|July 25, 2025
Summary
Poor sleep quality is linked to increased pain, particularly in Native Americans (NAs). While sleep impacts pain more than the reverse, it may not fully explain the NA pain disparity.
Area of Science:
- Sleep science
- Pain research
- Health disparities
Background:
- Native Americans (NAs) exhibit higher chronic pain rates.
- Sleep problems are prevalent among NAs, potentially contributing to pain disparities.
- Bidirectional relationship exists between sleep and pain, with sleep having a stronger influence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate longitudinal, temporal relationships between sleep and pain across racial/ethnic groups.
- To assess if sleep-pain temporal dynamics differ in Native Americans compared to other groups.
- To examine the role of sleep in the Native American pain disparity.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of a mobile health intervention clinical trial.
- Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) of sleep quality, duration, and pain intensity over 6 months.
- Dynamic structural equation modeling to analyze cross-lagged, temporal relationships, controlling for confounds.
Main Results:
- Confirmed reciprocal sleep-pain relationship: poor sleep quality increased next-morning pain, and higher pain decreased next-day sleep quality.
- The influence of sleep on pain was stronger than the influence of pain on sleep.
- A stronger association between sleep quality and pain was observed in Native Americans compared to Black participants.
Conclusions:
- Sleep-pain relationships are present in Native Americans and other minoritized groups.
- Poor sleep quality is a significant factor associated with pain in these populations.
- Poor sleep alone does not fully account for the observed Native American pain disparities.
Related Concept Videos
01:24Substance Use Disorders Affecting Sleep
217
Substance use disorders involve a pattern of using drugs more extensively than intended and continuing use despite harmful consequences. This includes legal substances like alcohol and nicotine, as well as illegal drugs. These disorders often involve both physical and psychological dependence, reflecting compulsive use of substances that significantly alter thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, contributing to a major public health issue.
Understanding the concepts of physical dependence,...
Understanding the concepts of physical dependence,...
217
01:24Primary Motives: Sleep, Sex, and Pain Avoidance
1.5K
Primary motives such as sleep, sex, and pain avoidance are crucial drivers of behavior in humans and animals. These motives ensure survival, reproductive success, and overall well-being by prompting actions that meet essential bodily needs.
Sleep is a fundamental physiological drive that fosters a state of restfulness crucial for several bodily functions. It facilitates body restoration, the process by which the body repairs, rejuvenates, and maintains itself during sleep, including memory...
Sleep is a fundamental physiological drive that fosters a state of restfulness crucial for several bodily functions. It facilitates body restoration, the process by which the body repairs, rejuvenates, and maintains itself during sleep, including memory...
1.5K
02:20Longitudinal Research
12.5K
Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...
12.5K
01:53Cause and Effect
11.3K
While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. For instance, as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime. Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree? Or, after committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone?
11.3K
02:07Blind Procedures
12.1K
Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which...
12.1K
02:16Surveys
15.4K
Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally. Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.
15.4K