D. S. Dailey

Insomnia And The Eye Of The Beholder: Are There Clinical Markers Of Objective Sleep Disturbances Among Adults With And Without Insomnia Complaints?

Previous findings suggest that some who report insomnia sleep well, whereas some noncomplaining individuals sleep rather poorly. This study was conducted to determine if mood, anxiety, and sleep-related beliefs might relate to perceived sleep disturbance. Thirty-two women and 32 men (aged 40-79 years) with primary insomnia and an aged-matched sample of 61 normal sleepers (31 women, 30 men) completed 6 nocturnal sleep recordings, as well as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Trait portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-2), and the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep Questionnaire. Sleep and interview data were used to subdivide the majority of the sample (n = 108) into objective normal sleepers and subjective insomnia sufferers who seemingly slept well and subjective normal sleepers and objective insomnia sufferers who slept poorly. The 2 subjective subgroups showed the most marked differences on most of the psychometric measures. The findings suggest that the psychological factors scrutinized in this study may mediate sleep satisfaction and/or predict objective sleep difficulties.

Daytime testing after laboratory or home-based polysomnography: comparisons of middle-aged insomnia sufferers and normal sleepers

Many studies have shown only modest differences between insomnia sufferers and matched, non‐complaining normal controls in regard to their levels of daytime sleepiness and diurnal performances. The current study was conducted to determine whether such daytime comparisons might be affected by the setting (home vs. sleep lab) in which study participants sleep on the nights before such testing. The study used a counter‐balanced, matched‐group design in which participants underwent three consecutive nocturnal polysomnographs (PSG) conducted either in the sleep lab or in their homes prior to undergoing daytime multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) and computer‐administered performance testing. The study participants were 35 (18 women and 17 men) middle‐aged (40–59 years) non‐complaining normal sleepers and 33 middle‐aged insomnia sufferers (17 women and 16 men) who met structured interview criteria for persistent primary insomnia. Use of a hierarchical linear statistical model showed only insomnia sufferers who underwent nocturnal home PSG were more alert on the MSLT than were normal sleepers who underwent lab PSG. However, these insomnia sufferers showed a greater propensity toward attention lapses on selected reaction time tests than did either of the two normal control groups (i.e. either those who slept in the lab or those who slept at home). The results suggest the nocturnal sleep setting (home vs. lab) may affect subsequent MSLT and performance test comparisons of insomnia sufferers and normal sleepers.