About a quarter of Americans develop acute insomnia every year, and far more may suffer recurrences sleepless nights, a new study reveals.
Insomnia can increase risks of all manner of health conditions, including diabetes, heart attack, stroke and depression.
The World Health Organization has said that we are in the midst of a ‘sleeplessness epidemic,’ and the new data from the University of Pennsylvania suggests it is far from over.
In fact, the study’s findings indicate a ‘sharp increase’ from previous estimates of insomnia in the US, one expert says.
One quarter of Americans develop difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep in bouts of acute insomnia each year, a new study reveals
We know that ‘whether caused by stress, illness, medications, or other factors, poor sleep is very common,’ as senior study author Dr Micheal Perlis said.
But his new findings suggest that the problem is getting not just more common, but more severe, as short or unsatisfying night turning into insomniac nights.
According to the new study, which tracked the sleep habits of 1,435 adults, acute insomnia gets resolved for 75 percent of people before it turns into a more serious, constant issue.
The researchers asked the participants how long it took them to fall asleep at night, and on how many nights they struggled to fall asleep on a daily, weekly and monthly basis over the course of the year.
Each participant kept a sleep diary documenting details of their sleep duration and quality, and the researchers assessed their health and the activities of their lives over the course of the study.
Acute insomnia, which is defined as struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep for as three nights or more a week for at least two weeks in a row is a growing problem for Americans.
Once these sleepless nights persist for more than three weeks, insomnia is considered chronic.
Though scientists still don’t know exactly what function sleep serves, it seems to give the brain a bit of a ‘refresh,’ and going without or with too little sleep seems to degrade the bodies overall functioning.
Poor sleep has been closely linked to everything from high blood pressure to obesity, depression, Alzheimer’s, stroke and even higher risks of premature death.
The root causes of all of these degrees of sleeplessness or poor sleep, however, are roughly the same.
Among the primary forces driving sleeplessness is anxiety, which, incidentally is also on the rise in the US, explains Dr Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology specializing in sleep at the University of California, Berkeley.
Nearly 20 percent of Americans – about 40 million people – suffer from an anxiety disorder.
It comes as no surprise to Dr Walker that this proportion is only slightly lower than the number of people who experience bouts of insomnia.
‘One of the key mechanisms underlying insomnia is essentially anxiety and its correlative in the brain and body, which is the flight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system – which, by the way, is anything but sympathetic’ he says.
‘It’s very agitative and that part of the nervous system gets shifted into overdrive.’
When the sympathetic nervous system is over-activated, particularly at night, ‘it’s as little like a car engine in neutral, but not quietly idling. Instead, your foot is to the floor and the engine is just revving and revving,’ Dr walker explains.
‘When you’re excessively “switched on,” it seems to result in a higher heart rate and higher body temperature, as well as the circulation of body chemicals including adrenaline, and, most importantly, cortisol.’
Cortisol is the body’s stress hormone, released during the fight or flight response to kick the body into higher gear.
The hormone is crucial to our survival when there is a threat present, but our levels of it are supposed to decline as we prepare to sleep.
‘But when you measure it in people with insomnia, they don’t get that normal, nice drop right around bed time. Instead, it says high or rises back in the middle of the night,’ Dr Walker says.
‘This seems to fit both sleep onset insomnia’ – difficulty falling asleep – ‘as well as sleep maintenance insomnia,’ which interrupts sleep, he adds.
Rising rates of insomnia closely track rising rates of anxiety, which leads to the higher levels of cortisol that interrupt sleep, getting to the bottom of anxiety itself is complicated, says Dr Walker.
‘It’s somewhat unclear [what drives anxiety rates]. There’s more job stress and pressure, but also probably more stress surround finances and family,’ he says.
The good news for sleeplessness sufferers is that, for most, the problem does not become chronic, but rather is triggered by those various stressors.
To continue to keep acute insomnia from become a chronic issue, Dr Walker says that ‘if there is a known trigger,’ like relationship trouble, bereavement, or financial stress, ‘try to make sure you deal with it – that is obviously critical – either by talking to friends and getting support.’
He adds that our ‘sleep hygiene’ leaves something to be desired, as constant light – particularly the blue kind from our television and phone screens – keeps our bodies from winding down into peaceful sleep.