Is It True That Insomniacs Have Different Brains?

Do you have a hard time falling and staying asleep? Are you waking up feeling unrefreshed despite having the opportunity to sleep adequately? Is it taking a toll on your daily tasks? Insomnia sufferers will feel irritable, un-energized with constant headaches and have difficulties staying focused and remembering. Insomnia will affect your quality of life making it a constant struggle. But what is insomnia? According to Medicine Net, “it’s the perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep due to a number of factors, such as difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, or unrefreshing sleep”. This can be caused by various factors such as stress, depression, overthinking, medication, other illnesses or poor sleeping habits. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 50 to 70 million adults in the US suffer from sleeping disorders.

But what happens to the brain? Rachel Salas and her research team from John Hopkins identify brain differences linked to insomnia. They report that people with chronic insomnia show more plasticity and activity than good sleepers in the motor cortex region of the brain. (Plasticity is the brains ability to adapt and change to different stimuli and situations.) They also found that there is more ‘excitability’ among neurons in the same region of the brain. This suggests that insomniacs are in a constant state of heightened information processing that may interfere with sleep. They hope that their research will help for a better diagnosis and treatment of insomnia.

Another research team led by Drummond and Matthew Walker used Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study how the lack of concentration during the day that affects insomniacs. The team found that insomnia sufferers did not properly turn on brain regions used for memory tasks and did not turn off the ‘mind-wandering’ region of the brain. The MRI scans revealed that insomniacs could not modulate activity in brain regions used to perform tasks. As a task got harder good sleepers were able to use additional resources within the memory network of the brain (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), while insomniacs could not use additional resources. This study provides measurable abnormalities in the brain, giving biological markers for future diagnosis and treatments.

The researches previously mentioned provide evidence that insomnia does affect the brain and not only that, but it interferes with simple daily tasks. Although neuroscientist still do not know the actual reason why insomnia occurs, current studies provide the pathway for future research. Understanding the differences between a good and bad sleeper’s brain, will make a huge impact in future diagnosis and treatments for sufferers.

Until then there here are some suggestions you can use to improve your sleep quality:

1. Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, and cool.
2. Stick to a regular sleep schedule, this includes the weekend.
3. Avoid naps;  if you must limit it to 30 minutes before 3 p.m.
4. Avoid stimulating activity and stressful situations before bedtime.
5. Don’t read from a backlight device (such as an iPad).
6. Limit the consumption of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.

Keep in mind that sleeping disorders can be caused by anxiety, depression, medications, illnesses and/or poor sleeping habits, among other factors. Before considering that you suffer from insomnia, the treatment of these factors can improve your sleep quality, improving your day. Do you suffer from insomnia? If so how does it affect your daily routine? Do you have other suggestions that help improve your sleep? If so comment on the bottom of this page to help the readers.

You guys can also watch our Youtube video on the psychology behind Insomnia and how to deal with it here:

References:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2013). Brain imaging study reveals the wandering mind behind insomnia. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/aaos-bis082913.php

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Insufficient Sleep Is a Public Health Epidemic. http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssleep/

DNews. (2014). What Makes Insomniac Brains Different? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWLOSwKXXOU

Help Guide. (2015). Can’t Sleep?. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/cant-sleep-insomnia-treatment.htm

John Hopkins University. (2014). Researchers Identify Brain Differences Linked to Insomnia. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/researchers_identify_brain_differences_linked_to_insomnia

Mayo Clinic. (2015). Insomnia. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/basics/symptoms/con-20024293

Medicine Net. (2015). Definition of Insomnia. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=17762

Rachael Rettner. (2013). Insomnia’s Surprising Effects on the Brain. http://www.livescience.com/39337-insomnia-brain-working-memory-differences.html