title: Sleep-readiness signals in insomniacs and good sleepers.
abstract: Sleep is preceded by physiological and behavioural events that inform the subject that it is time to sleep. Our hypothesis is that insomniacs do not adequately recognize such signals, thus missing the best time to go to bed. Eighty-seven chronic insomniac participants and 76 age-matched good sleeper controls were recruited. Semi-structured interviews focused on three aspects of nocturnal sleep: features, habitual activities and signals that they usually rely on in order to decide their readiness to sleep. The results showed that insomniacs relied more than good sleepers on external signals (time) than on bodily ones to decide to go to sleep.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy fiorenza.giganti@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Fiorenza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giganti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aboudan
authors.affiliation: AOU of Bologna, S.Orsola- Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baiardi
authors.affiliation: AOU of Bologna, S.Orsola- Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondini
authors.affiliation: AOU of Bologna, S.Orsola- Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cirignotta
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salzarulo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: good sleepers; insomniacs; sleep habits; sleep onset; sleep signals