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Link between insomnia, control of emotion

Date:
September 8, 2015
Source:
British Psychological Society (BPS)
Summary:
People who are losing the ability to regulate their emotions may be more likely to suffer from insomnia. And if they do, that insomnia is more likely to become persistent, research suggests. Researchers surveyed 2333 adult members of the general public in Sweden. They were asked to complete a series of questionnaires on emotional regulation and a series on insomnia. The researchers found that a reduced ability to regulate emotions was associated with an 11 per cent increased risk of developing a new bout of insomnia or reporting persistent insomnia.
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People who are losing the ability to regulate their emotions may be more likely to suffer from insomnia. And if they do, that insomnia is more likely to become persistent.

Those are the conclusions of research published in a British Psychological Society journal by a team led by Markus Jansson-Fröjmark from Örebro University, Sweden.

Markus Jansson-Fröjmark said: "These findings are important because, though the effect size is small, they suggest that teaching people strategies for regulating their emotions might help prevent new cases of insomnia to occur and decrease the risk of persistent insomnia."

The researchers, whose work is published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, surveyed 2333 adult members of the general public in Sweden. They were asked to complete a series of questionnaires on emotional regulation and a series on insomnia.

The questionnaires on emotional regulation asked about problems like difficulties with impulse control and lack of emotional awareness. Those on sleep problems asked about problems with falling asleep and with waking too early, and also about any difficulties these problems caused during the day.

When the results were analysed the researchers found there was no link between people's ability to regulate their emotions and their experience of insomnia.

But a different picture emerged when follow-up questionnaires were returned six months later by 1887 of the original participants and 18 months later by 1795 of them.

These results showed that participants whose ability to regulate their emotions had diminished since the original survey were more likely to have developed insomnia and that it was more likely to be persistent.

The researchers found that a reduced ability to regulate emotions was associated with an 11 per cent increased risk of developing a new bout of insomnia or reporting persistent insomnia.


Story Source:

Materials provided by British Psychological Society (BPS). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Markus Jansson-Fröjmark, Annika Norell-Clarke, Steven J. Linton. The role of emotion dysregulation in insomnia: Longitudinal findings from a large community sample. British Journal of Health Psychology, 2015; DOI: 10.1111/bjhp.12147

Cite This Page:

British Psychological Society (BPS). "Link between insomnia, control of emotion." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 September 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150908093953.htm>.
British Psychological Society (BPS). (2015, September 8). Link between insomnia, control of emotion. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 13, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150908093953.htm
British Psychological Society (BPS). "Link between insomnia, control of emotion." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150908093953.htm (accessed October 13, 2024).

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