Drinking coffee can help ease pain in some cases, according to research

If you've ever been berated for giving in to your third coffee of the day, this research will interest you.

Apparently, a cup of coffee or two can offer similar pain relief to over the counter painkillers. Sceptical? Read on... The study conducted by researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School and published in Nature Medicine showed that "more sleep" and taking caffeine to "promote wakefulness" can prove more effective than standard analgesics. In a bid to understand the link between caffeine and chronic pain management, researchers found that sleep deprivation can lead to increased pain sensitivity. Lead researcher and sleep psychologist Chloe Alexandre said:

"We developed a protocol to chronically sleep-deprive mice in a non-stressful manner, by providing them with toys and activities at the time they were supposed to go to sleep, thereby extending the wake period. This is similar to what most of us do when we stay awake a little bit too much watching late-night TV each weekday."

The findings showed:

"Five consecutive days of moderate sleep deprivation can significantly exacerbate pain sensitivity over time in otherwise healthy mice".

Researchers then found that the mice were sleep-deprived and more sensitive to pain, as a result. However, painkillers, including morphine and ibuprofen, weren't successful and instead, caffeine relieved pain. Kiran Maski, MD and specialist in sleep disorders at Boston Children's Hospital, had this to say about the research results.

 "This study suggests a novel approach to pain management that would be relatively easy to implement in clinical care. Clinical research is needed to understand what sleep duration is required and to test the efficacy of wake-promoting medications in chronic pain patients."

Grab yourself a cup, girl. You deserve it.