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Published on: October 2, 2019
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Types of primary insomnia: is hyperarousal also present during napping?
Alexandra D Pérusse1, Isabelle Turcotte, Geneviève St-Jean
1École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada ; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Comportementales Humaines du Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Québec, Québec, Canada.
Summary
Insomnia sufferers (INS) exhibit hyperarousal, impairing nap sleep quality after cognitive tests. Good sleepers (GS) show better nap sleep, indicating hyperarousal overrides mental fatigue in INS.
Area of Science:
- Sleep Medicine
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Hyperarousal is a key feature of insomnia, but its 24-hour presence is not fully understood.
- Insomnia sufferers (INS) often report difficulties sleeping despite feeling fatigued, suggesting a complex interplay of factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether hyperarousal in insomnia is a continuous, 24-hour phenomenon.
- To compare nap sleep quality between good sleepers (GS) and different insomnia subtypes (paradoxical INS and psychophysiological INS) after cognitive exertion.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study comparing GS, paradoxical INS (PARA-I), and psychophysiological INS (PSY-I).
- Participants underwent 4 nights of polysomnography (PSG) in a lab setting.
- Cognitive testing followed by a 20-minute nap was administered on two separate mornings.
Main Results:
- Good sleepers (GS) achieved significantly longer total sleep time (TST) and higher sleep efficiency (SE) during naps compared to both INS groups.
- Insomnia sufferers (INS) spent more time awake during naps, and paradoxical INS (PARA-I) had longer sleep onset latency.
- Subjective sleepiness levels were similar across all groups, but objective sleep measures differed significantly.
Conclusions:
- Insomnia sufferers (INS) demonstrate poorer objective nap sleep quality following cognitive challenges, suggesting hyperarousal dominates over mental fatigue.
- These findings imply that the hyperarousal characteristic of insomnia persists throughout the day, impacting sleep even during naps.
- The results may explain why individuals with insomnia struggle to fall asleep at night despite experiencing cognitive load.
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