Correct!
3. Increased brain metabolism during both asleep and awake compared to controls.
Insomnia is a condition of physiological hyperarousal during both sleep and wakefulness (1, 2). There is increased activation of somatic, cortical and cognitive functioning during the day as well as night.
- Insomniacs have elevated heart rate compared to good sleepers across the sleep-wake cycle
- Body temperature and blood pressure are higher in insomniacs.
- There is a nocturnal and diurnal increase in the whole-body metabolic rate.
- Levels of cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone during sleep are elevated.
- Insomniacs show increased high-frequency electroencephalographic (EEG) beta and sleep spindle (sigma) activity during non–rapid eye movement sleep.
- Alpha and beta EEG frequencies are increased both in wake and sleep.
- One study utilized [(18)F]Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography to assess regional cerebral glucose metabolism in 7 patients with insomnia and 20 healthy subjects (3). Compared with healthy subjects, patients with insomnia showed greater global cerebral glucose metabolism during sleep and while awake. There was also a smaller decline in relative metabolism from waking to sleep states in wake-promoting regions compared to controls.
References
- Buysse DJ. Insomnia. JAMA. 2013;309:706-16. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Bonnet MH, Arand DL. Hyperarousal and insomnia: state of the science. Sleep Med Rev. 2010;14:9-15. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Nofzinger EA, Buysse DJ, Germain A, Price JC, Miewald JM, Kupfer DJ. Functional neuroimaging evidence for hyperarousal in insomnia. Am J Psychiatry. 2004;161:2126-8. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
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