Causes and Effects of Postoperative Sleep Disorders and Treatment Strategies for Preoperative, Intraoperative, and Postoperative Settings-A Narrative Review.

Abstract

Sleep is an essential part of everyday life and disturbed sleep can produce numerous deleterious effects on the body. An especially prevalent and detrimental subset of sleep disturbances are sleep disturbances that occur in patients during the postoperative period. To better understand these disorders and how to treat them, a literature search was conducted to identify and consolidate recent advancements in this field. This narrative review discusses the structure of a typical night of sleep and the causes, effects, and treatment strategies of Postoperative Sleep Disturbances (PSDs). Factors that contribute to the development of PSDs have been identified at all stages of the surgical process, including the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative timepoints. Exposure to these factors can accumulate during each step and may decrease the quality of sleep postoperatively. The development of PSDs has been found to affect multiple systems throughout the body and can ultimately lead to poorer recovery times and increased postoperative mortality. As a result, multiple therapeutic approaches are being investigated for their role in reducing the prevalence of these disorders. This has revealed promising interventions throughout the surgical process, such as preoperative nerve blocks, intraoperative infusions, and postoperative behavioral interventions. However, despite these successful findings, work still needs to be completed to optimize these techniques and generalize intervention strategies.