What Is Painsomnia?

By Anna Smith Haghighi, May 14, 2025

Painsomnia is not a medical diagnosis. Patients first assigned the name to the condition, describing the struggles they have sleeping with chronic pain. Alex Dimitriu, MD, psychiatrist and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine in California and a medical reviewer for Everyday Health, defines painsomnia as “insomnia that is caused by pain. This can mean trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, waking up too often, or waking up too early in the night. But how exactly does sleep quality affect pain? The answer lies in several biological processes that can be affected by poor sleep and lead to worsening of pain symptoms.

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