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Sleep and Headache: The Biological Basis
Author(s) -
Evers Stefan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
headache: the journal of head and face pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.14
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1526-4610
pISSN - 0017-8748
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2010.01730.x
Subject(s) - neuroscience , sleep (system call) , midbrain , melatonin , neuroscience of sleep , hypothalamus , medicine , psychology , central nervous system , electroencephalography , slow wave sleep , computer science , operating system
Sleep and trigeminal pain processing share several common pathways with respect to neurotransmission and functions of distinct brain areas. In this review, the role of the most important brain stem and midbrain regions for this link is discussed. The central structure involved in both headache and sleep is the hypothalamus in which the orexinergic neurons originate. These neurons project to the periaqueductal grey and are probably the anatomic and physiological link between headache and sleep. Another relevant system for this interrelationship is the melatonin metabolism. However, basic research in this field is still very preliminary and a holistic hypothesis on how sleep physiology impacts headache and vice versa is still missing.