Stress, sleep and your brain

As already mentioned, a high proportion of insomnia sufferers are also affected by chronic stress. Research shows that the brains of insomniacs do not enter a normal state of sleep related activity. Their brains seem to be in a constant “on” state, continuing to operate at high levels even when it’s supposed to be dialing down to recharge at night. There is some debate as to whether this is due to physical tension or a failure to inhibit wakefulness. Either way, insomniacs have trouble switching off. When insomniacs are finally able to drift off, for example, their brain activity is still abnormal; layered with more waking, or arousal patterns than those of good sleepers.

As one Sleep expert notes  “Their brain waves look different – Traditionally in normal sleep, the brain waves slow down, become more synchronous and get into a delta wave for sleep. Insomniacs may get into delta sleep, but they have other faster rhythms riding on top of their EEG.”

Some of the key brain changes seen in stress-related chronic insomnia are:

1)      Increased cortisol – a stress hormone which promotes alertness and physiological arousal.

2)      Decreased Norepeniphrine transporter (or NET))  in the Pons.  NET helps produce sleep by getting rid of Norepeniphrine.  As we mentioned earlier, Norepiphrine levels need to be decreased for sleep. So decreased NET means increased Norepeniphrine, which is counterproductive for sleep.

3)      Decreased connectivity between them PFC and the limbic system.  Remember we talked earlier about how the mPFC and the amygdala (the parts of the brain responsible for thinking and feeling respectively) need to work together for sleep to happen.

4)      The mPFC also doesn’t shut down, leading to increased worry and mental activity of the DMN

In addition to the brain changes that keep them awake at night, the brains of insomniacs are also not functioning as efficiently during the day. Insomnia is thus really a 24 hour brain condition – like a light switch that is always on  Of course there may be a reason for this – if you feel overwhelmed by circumstances out of your control, your nervous system is going to react and you will find it hard to power down. Insomnia may also be a warning sign that your life is simply too crowded. In that case this app may not be enough – you might have to put more of you in your life and less if it (responsibilities).you might have

References

Marques, DR, Gomes AA, Clemente V et al  (2015) Default-mode network activity and its role in comprehension and management of psychophysiological insomnia; a new perspective. New Ideas in Psychology 36, 30-37.

Salas, RE (2014 ), Galea JM, Gamaldo AA et al . Increased Use-Dependent Plasticity in Chronic Insomnia. Sleep Mar. 1:37(3):535-44.

Seung-Schik Yoo, Gujar, Ninad, Hu Peter, et al (2007) The human emotional brain without sleep – a prefrontal amygdala disconnect, Current Biology 17(20)R877-R878