Information processing during sleep and stress‐related sleep vulnerability

Abstract

Aims: Previous studies showed enhanced attention and decreased inhibitory processes during early nonrapid eye movement sleep in primary insomnia patients, as measured by event-related potentials. The current study aims to examine information processing during sleep in non-insomniac individuals with high vulnerability (HV) to stress-related sleep disturbances.Methods: Twenty-seven non-insomniac individuals were recruited, 14 with low vulnerability and 13 with HV. After passing a screening interview and polysomnographic recording, subjects came to the sleep laboratory for 2 nights (a baseline night and a stress-inducing night) for event-related potentials recordings. Results:The HV group demonstrated shorter P2 latency during the first 5 min of stage 2 sleep and higher P900 amplitudes under the stress condition during slow-wave sleep, which indicates an increased level of inhibitory processes. In addition, they had shorter N1 latencies during slow-wave sleep that could indicate an elevated level of attention processing during deep sleep.Conclusions: Unlike patients with chronic insomnia, individuals with high sleep vulnerability to stress show a compensatory process that may prevent external stimulation from interfering with their sleep. This may be one of the factors preventing their acute sleep disturbances from becoming chronic problems.

Vulnerability to stress-related sleep disturbance and insomnia: Investigating the link with comorbid depressive symptoms.

“…The FIRST has been widely used in previous research (Drake, Scofield, & Roth, 2008; Drake et al, 2011; Yang, Chou, & Hsiao, 2011; Lin, Jen, & Yang, 2014), and has demonstrated good psychometric properties. Furthermore, previous studies have reported a significant correlation between FIRST scores and polysomnographic measures of sleep, as well as latencies on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (Drake et al, 2004).…”

“…The Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST; Drake et al, 2004) is a 9-item questionnaire (4-point Likert scale) assessing vulnerability to stress-related sleep disturbances (i.e., sleep reactivity). The FIRST has been widely used in previous research (Drake, Scofield, & Roth, 2008; Drake et al, 2011; Yang, Chou, & Hsiao, 2011; Lin, Jen, & Yang, 2014), and has demonstrated good psychometric properties. Furthermore, previous studies have reported a significant correlation between FIRST scores and polysomnographic measures of sleep, as well as latencies on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (Drake et al, 2004).…”

Assessing Stress-Induced Sleep Reactivity in College Students: The European Portuguese Version of the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST)

“…Nakajima et al (2014) found that insomnia patients scored higher in FIRST than a group of healthy controls. Another study used the FIRST to examine information processing during sleep in a non-insomniac sample with high vulnerability to stress-related sleep disturbances (Lin, Jen and Yang, 2014). Vargas, Friedman and Drake (2015), in a sample of community participants, observed that sleep reactivity was associated with greater depressive symptoms, and this link was partially mediated by insomnia.…”