Category: Back Pain | Author: Stefano Sinicropi | Date: January 28, 2026
We always recommend addressing back issues sooner rather than later, but a new study adds more evidence to this recommendation by suggesting that untreated back pain may be a predictor of sleep problems in the future for older men.
According to the research published in Innovation and Aging, senior men suffering from back pain had poorer sleep six years later. Some of the sleep issues the men faced included:
- Irregular sleep
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Dissatisfaction with sleep quality
- Daytime sleepiness
Back And Future Sleep Issues
To get a better understanding of back pain’s impact on sleep, researchers tracked 1,055 men who completed two clinical sleep visits six or more years apart. The men answered questions by mail about their back pain every four months between the two sleep study sessions.
“We know that back pain and sleep are serious issues for older adults,” said lead researcher Soomi Lee, an associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. “We studied data collected over several years to understand whether poor sleep could predict back pain or if back pain could predict poor sleep, and we found it was the latter.”
After looking at the data, researchers found that earlier back pain predicted a 12-25% increase in a man’s sleep problems by the time of their second sleep study.
Researchers said that the findings are important because of the impact poor sleep quality can have on a person’s life. Alongside feeling tired and groggy throughout the day, inadequate sleep has been linked to certain neurological disorders.
“Older people should acknowledge their back pain so that they can prevent subsequent sleep problems and the other health issues that accompany inadequate sleep, including memory problems, depression, anxiety and falling,” said Lee.
Add future sleep quality to the laundry list of reasons why it’s important to treat your back issues now instead of letting them linger. Researchers hope to conduct a similar study involving women to see if the results hold when the sexes differ, but for now, let’s assume that you’ll want to proactively treat your spine pain to protect your future sleep quality, regardless of your gender.
For more information about back pain or sleep concerns caused by spinal discomfort, connect with Dr. Sinicropi and the team at Midwest Spine & Brain Institute today at (651) 430-3800.
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