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[A] new study published in Sleep finds that how you cope with that stress could be behind those sleepless nights. Researchers from the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit had just under 3,000 people report how many stressful events they’d experienced in the last year. Possible stressors included deaths in the family, illnesses, financial problems, and going through a divorce. Participants also reported how severe those stressors were to them, how long they lasted, and how deeply they impacted participants’ thoughts—for example, if they thought about the stressful event when they didn’t mean to. Lastly, they reported what behaviors they used to cope with their stress.
The researchers used DSM-IV criteria to assess participants’ insomnia, and analyzed how the duration of the stressors, their intrusion on participants’ thoughts, and coping mechanisms mediated the relationship between stress and insomnia.
Overall, 9.1 percent of study participants experienced insomnia, and it was more prevalent in women. People who experienced more stress, unsurprisingly, were more likely to have trouble sleeping, and this likelihood increased the longer stress was present in their lives. Invasive thoughts about stressors (“cognitive intrusion,” as the researchers call it) also put people at higher risk for insomnia.
Abstract available at Sleep: Moderators and Mediators of the Relationship Between Stress and Insomnia: Stressor Chronicity, Cognitive Intrusion, and Coping
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