Coffee Can Be a Good Pain Reliever, New Study Suggests
Experts have more good news for coffee lovers. New research found evidence that caffeine can be a source of pain relief. This was based on animal experiments that showed laboratory mice jolted with caffeine having a higher pain tolerance than those given a dose of ibuprofen.
The same experiment also learned that chronic sleep deprivation leads to increased pain sensitivity. Scientists at Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center arrived at these conclusions by depriving lab mice of sleep and giving them either coffee or painkillers afterward.
To keep mice awake up to 12 hours, researchers "entertained" them by providing custom-made toys. When the rodents get tired of playing, they were distracted with cotton balls to nest with or things to chew. After that, they were subjected to pain tests through exposure to controlled amounts of heat, cold and pressure from a hot chili pepper ingredient.
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"We found that five consecutive days of moderate sleep deprivation can significantly exacerbate pain sensitivity over time in otherwise healthy mice," sleep physiologist Chloe Alexandre said. Surprisingly, common analgesics like ibuprofen did not block hypersensitivity to pain.
Even morphine lost most of its efficacy in sleep-deprived mice. Lack of sleep made the mice immune to pain relievers. On the other hand, the mice that drank coffee had a higher pain tolerance. This could be attributed to the rush of dopamine that counteracted sensitivity.
This non-efficacy of pain relievers on the mice is similar to the experience of patients suffering from chronic pain who no longer respond to painkillers due to lack of sleep. They increase the dosage of their medication which heightens the risk of side effects. The team advised them to improve their sleeping habits or take sleep-inducing medications at night instead of painkillers.
The new findings support an earlier research on caffeine's ability to ease muscle pain. A 2007 University of Georgia study on nine female college students who drank coffee before gym workout showed a 48 percent decrease in body pain after exercising compared to taking aspirin or analgesic.
