Increased Nocturnal Activity Associated With Adverse Childhood Experiences in Patients With Primary Insomnia

Abstract

The present study examined to what extent adverse childhood experiences (ACE), in addition to demographic characteristics, current level of stress, depression, and arousability predisposition, are associated with sleep measures in adult insomnia. Thirty-nine adults suffering from primary insomnia completed self-report questionnaires assessing ACE, current level of stress, predisposition towards increased arousability, and depression. They were monitored for 7 consecutive nights at home with wrist actigraphs to evaluate objective sleep-related activity. Blockwise multiple regression analyses were performed to determine which variables were the most important predictors of sleep measures. ACE proved to be important predictors of actigraphically assessed sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, number of body movements, and moving time, whereas the set of the remaining variables had no significant impact on these sleep measures. These findings suggest that there is an association between childhood maltreatment history and sleep in patients with primary insomnia. We presume that sleep-related nightly activity can be regarded as an aftereffect of long-lasting stressful experiences in childhood.

Psychopathology Among Adults Abused During Childhood or Adolescence

“…This finding has rarely been noted in previous publications. Bader et al (2007) noted an association between childhood maltreatment history and sleep problems in their laboratory-like study on primary insomnia. They attributed it to an "after-effect of a long-lasting stressful experience in childhood" (Bader et al, 2007).…”

“…Bader et al (2007) noted an association between childhood maltreatment history and sleep problems in their laboratory-like study on primary insomnia. They attributed it to an "after-effect of a long-lasting stressful experience in childhood" (Bader et al, 2007). Interestingly, identical disturbances were reported by child Holocaust survivors, 6 decades after World War II (Sharon et al, 2009).…”

“…documented, the failure of such protection is a risk factor for a variety of health effects early in life (Herrenkohl and Herrenkohl, 2007) and even years later, such as psychopathology (Caspi et al, 2008;Chapman et al, 2004;Duncan et al, 1996;Fergusson et al, 2008;Kessler et al, 1997;MacMillan et al, 2001;Molnar et al, 2001;Mullen et al, 1996;Stein and Barrett-Connor, 2000;Widom et al, 2007); sleep disturbances (Bader et al, 2007); and a host of physical disorders (Sachs-Ericsson et al, 2005) such as pain (Green et al, 2001;KendallTackett, 2001;Sachs-Ericsson et al, 2007), irritable bowel syndrome, and gastro-intestinal illnesses (Drossman et al, 1995;Leserman et al, 1997;Talley et al, 1995).…”

Factors Influencing the Sleep Behavior of Primary School-aged Children in Macao

“…In addition, a change in a regular pattern could evoke emotional excitement [1,10] Internal factors are those that arise from or are inherent to the personal development of the child. A history of difficulty in falling asleep could be because of an unhappy bedtime experience, traumatic childhood experiences, and illnesses such as having breathing difficulty, depression, epilepsy, or neurological problems, or dysfunctional health development, all of which could cause children to have difficulty in falling [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] The most major factors that correlated to difficulty in falling asleep were irregular bedtime, stress out, TV watched and excited activities [19,43] In the study, greater than 25% of participants admitted watching TV and having exercise before bedtime may cause stimulation and prevent them initiation to sleep not easier [19].…”

The Role of Childhood Trauma and PTSD in Postpartum Sleep Disturbance

“…Nevertheless, difficulty sleeping at night when the infant is asleep can signal depression and anxiety in new mothers (Bei, Milgrom, Ericksen, & Trinder, 2010; Dennis & Ross, 2005; Dørheim, Bondevik, Eberhard-Gran, & Bjorvatn, 2009; Goyal, Gay, & Lee, 2007; Huang, Carter, & Guo, 2004; Okun et al, 2011; Swanson, Pickett, Flynn, & Armitage, 2011). Among factors that may influence sleep in the postpartum period, little attention has been paid to the role of childhood trauma, which is known to negatively affect sleep in non-perinatal adults (Bader et al, 2007; Chapman et al, 2011; Chapman et al, 2013; Greenfield, Lee, Friedman, & Springer, 2011). Further, a past history of sexual trauma is a significant risk factor for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the postpartum (Verreault et al, 2012).…”