A new research suggests that people who suffer from insomnia and other sleep disorders have lower level of tolerance towards pain.

The study indicates of an emerging need to improve sleep among patients with chronic pain and vice versa.The findings suggest that psychological factors may contribute to the relationship between sleep problems and pain, but they do not completely explain it.

"While there is clearly a strong relationship between pain and sleep, such that insomnia increases both the likelihood and severity of clinical pain, it is not clear exactly why this is the case,” said lead researcher Borge Sivertsen from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen.

The research comprised more than 10,400 adults for Norwegian health study. Each participant underwent a standard test of pain sensitivity — the cold pressor test — in which the participants were asked to keep their hand submerged in cold water.

Overall, 32 percent of participants were able to keep their hand in the cold water for duration of 106-seconds.Participants with insomnia were more likely to remove their hand from cold water. Pain sensitivity increased with both the frequency and severity of insomnia.

Pain sensitivity was also connected to sleep latency that is the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.