Daytime Neurophysiological Hyperarousal in Chronic Insomnia: A Study of qEEG

The hyperarousal model demonstrates that instability of sleep-wake regulation leads to insomnia symptoms and various neurophysiological hyperarousal states. Previous studies have shown that hyperarousal states that appear in chronic insomnia patients are not limited to sleep at nighttime but are stable characteristics that extend into the daytime. However, this phenomenon is mainly measured at bedtime, so it hard to determine whether it is maintained throughout a 24 h cycle or if it just appears at bedtime.

We examined the resting state qEEG (quantitative electroencephalogram) and ECG (electrocardiogram) of chronic insomnia patients (n = 24) compared to good sleepers (n = 22) during the daytime.

As compared with controls, participants with insomnia showed a clearly high beta band activity in eyes closed condition at all brain areas. They showed a low frequency band at the frontal area; high frequency bands at the central and parietal areas were found in eyes open condition. Significantly higher heart rates were also found in the chronic insomnia group.

These findings suggest that chronic insomnia patients were in a state of neurophysiological hyperarousal during the middle of the day due to abnormal arousal regulation.