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Published on: June 19, 2019
A Neurobiological Model of Insomnia
Daniel J Buysse1, Anne Germain, Martica Hall
1University of Pittsburgh Sleep Medicine Institute and Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA.
Abstract:
Insomnia is a common clinical condition resulting in significant costs and morbidity. Previous models of insomnia focusing on psychological and behavioral processes are useful clinically, but lack neurobiological specificity. We propose an insomnia model based on basic and clinical neuroscience findings, and hypothesize that insomnia results from persistent activity in wake-promoting neural structures during NREM sleep. The simultaneous occurrence of sleeping and waking neural activity helps to explain clinical phenomenology and treatment effects in insomnia.
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