The contribution of worry to insomnia.
Recent research has pointed to the importance of cognitive activity in interfering with sleep, and suggested a close relationship between worry and insomnia. To explore the relationship between worry and insomnia in more detail, a sample was studied in which worry and insomnia were combined in a 2 x 2 design. The content of sleep-interfering cognitions was explored both with a previously developed Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire and a newly developed checklist of the content of thoughts that arose if people could not sleep. Both supported the importance of a distinction between sleep-related and other thoughts. Whereas worried insomniacs show a broad range of sleep-interfering thoughts, the thoughts of non-worried insomniacs focused mainly on sleep itself.
Watts
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FN
MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge, UK.
Coyle
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K
East
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MP
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking