Transient Insomnia Versus Chronic Insomnia: A Comparison Study of Sleep‐Related Psychological/Behavioral Characteristics

Abstract

Dysfunctional beliefs associated with worry and losing control over sleep are the most critical factors in differentiating chronic insomnia from transient insomnia. These factors should be addressed to help prevent individuals with high sleep vulnerability from developing chronic sleep disturbance.

Information processing during sleep and stress‐related sleep vulnerability

“…Unlike the cortical arousal measured by the ERP, the results from subjective rating scales showed that the HV group scored higher on subjective pre‐sleep arousal under the stress condition than the LV group. This finding is consistent with previous studies showing higher subjective arousability and pre‐sleep arousal levels in participants with higher FIRST scores . Bonnet and Arand also reported that a subgroup of normal young adults whose sleep was consistently more vulnerable to various types of situational stress showed higher autonomic nervous system (ANS) activations .…”

“…proposed in their model, increased information processing around bedtime can partially be learned through classical conditioning associating higher neurocognitive activities with bedtime cues . A recent study comparing psychological and behavioral variables between chronic insomnia patients and individuals with high vulnerability to stress‐related transient insomnia also showed that dysfunctional cognition and cognitive arousal, but not somatic arousal, are predictors for insomnia severity in chronic insomnia patients . Considered together, our findings suggest that different aspects of hyperarousal may play distinct roles in the developing course of chronic insomnia.…”

“…Yang et al . also showed an association between sleep vulnerability and subjective rating of pre‐sleep arousal . These studies suggest that cognitive‐emotional hyperarousal can be associated with stress‐related sleep reactions and can be a predisposing trait that exists before sleep disturbances become chronic.…”

“…Although cortical hyperarousal has been consistently supported as a characteristic of patients with chronic insomnia, little is known about whether cortical hyperarousal is a predisposing trait associated with the vulnerability to sleep disturbances or is resulted from chronic experiences of sleep disturbances . Using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST) to measure the degree of stress‐related sleep vulnerability, Fernández‐Mendoza et al .…”

Temporal Stability of the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST)

“…Based on the trait theory, 17 traits differ across people, affect behavior, and importantly, are stable patterns (in behavior, cognitions, and emotions) of habit over time. Though current evidence indicates sleep reactivity indeed differs across individuals (i.e., with varying levels of vulnerability in experiencing situational insomnia), 6,11 negatively affects sleep under stressful conditions (e.g., longer sleep onset latency, nocturnal arousals), 9,12,18 and is associated with maladaptive behaviors (e.g., sleep-interfering behaviors), 19 cognitions (e.g., rumination, dysfunctional sleep beliefs), and emotions (e.g., emotion-oriented coping), 1,20,21 evidence of its temporal stability is lacking (i.e., whether the FIRST is reliably stable over time? ).…”