Navigating sleep and pain challenges: Practical insights for nurse practitioners

ABSTRACT: Sleep and pain share a bidirectional relationship in which pain disrupts sleep, and poor sleep amplifies pain perception. This cycle contributes to increased pain severity, psychological distress, and diminished quality of life. Despite the prevalence of sleep disorders and pain among adults, sleep health is often underassessed in clinical practice. This article emphasizes the importance of integrating sleep assessments into comprehensive pain evaluations and highlights the role of nurse practitioners in identifying and addressing sleep disturbances to improve pain outcomes. The biopsychosocial model provides a framework for understanding the relationship between sleep and pain, guiding individualized, multimodal treatments to improve patient outcomes. Case studies are presented to illustrate clinical impact of sleep interventions as a pain management strategy and pain interventions to improve sleep health. Nurse practitioners are uniquely positioned to lead holistic approaches prioritizing sleep health as a critical component of pain management.