Effects of Low-Dose Acetylsalicylic Acid on Spontaneous Pain, Pain Sensitivity, and Central Pain Modulation in Response to a Sleep Restriction Challenge in Healthy Individuals

Poor sleep and pain perpetuate each other through a feed-forward cycle. While mechanisms driving this cycle remain poorly understood, they appear to involve inflammatory pathways. We investigated whether pre-emptive administration of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, aspirin), which targets multiple inflammatory pathways, attenuates the pain response to a sleep restriction challenge in healthy adults.