Insomnia is a very common pathology in the general population. This experience is defined as a sleep disorder consisting of the inability to initiate sleep, maintain it over time or, failing that, an inability to achieve an adequate quality of rest to restore the patient’s energy and normal state of wakefulness. . According to epidemiological studies, approximately 30% of the adult population presents one or more symptoms of insomnia.
As indicated by other medical sources, the general prevalence of insomnia disorders is 10-15% of the general population. Without going any further, more than 5.5 million annual visits to the doctor are reported in the United States alone for this type of clinical events. It is no wonder, since lack of sleep decreases the patient’s productivity and also promotes fatigue, irritability, anxiety and cyclical worries.
To address any pathology (whether purely physical or psychological), it is necessary to know the underlying causes that lead to the symptoms that you want to solve. Therefore, on this occasion we collect The main causes of insomnia backed by science.
First of all, it is necessary to highlight that there are several types of insomnia. Based on its duration, we can distinguish a transient or acute variant (lasts less than 7 days), another of short duration (1-3 weeks) and a chronic one (more than 3 weeks). Depending on its nature, insomnia can be conciliation, maintenance, early awakening or general.
In order to address this series of clinical conditions in any of its variants, it is necessary to know the causal etiological agent. Next, we present to you all fronts that can promote insomnia in patients.
Epidemiological studies collect significant evidence that insomnia is moderately heritable. It is estimated that, approximately, the range of heritability of the characteristics that promote its appearance is 22 to 25%. We go further, since genes that cause sleep deprivation have been isolated in Drosophila flies that, despite the differences, have a pattern of insomnia similar to that of human beings.
One of these genes is PER3, part of the group responsible for maintaining the correct circadian rhythm in living beings. In experimental settings, Mutations in PER3 have been associated with a tendency to morningness and generalized anxiety. This type of data shows that, without a doubt, genetics must play a more or less relevant role in the development of insomnia.
On the other hand, it should be noted that there is a fatal heritable disease whose main clinical sign is persistent insomnia. This pathology is known as “fatal familial insomnia” and responds to a mutation of the PRNP gene, located on human chromosome 20. It is an autosomal dominant pathology, that is, the coding gene is found on a non-sex chromosome and is expressed independently of the complementary allele.
2. Physiology
Insomnia has historically been associated with a condition of hyperarousal: a state of increased activity at the somatic, cognitive and cortical level.. People with insomnia often experience abnormal arousal in the central and peripheral nervous system, which can be measured with physiological parameters such as an increase in cortisol concentration, acceleration in heart rate, and changes in brain bioelectric activity.
We are not moving on purely conjectural grounds, since Multiple studies have analyzed the concentrations of the hormone cortisol throughout the day in patients with chronic insomnia. Normally, the lowest point of this hormone is in the middle of the night, but it appears that people with sleeping difficulties have higher circulating concentrations in the afternoon/evening. There is still much to investigate regarding this topic, but the bases of causality are established.
This makes a lot of sense on a physiological level, since cortisol is the main stress hormone in humans. This is responsible for increasing the level of blood sugar (glycemia), suppresses immune activity and promotes the metabolism of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, among many other things. In short, it prepares us to fight or flee in dangerous situations. As you can imagine, all these physiological mechanisms can prevent rest.
3. Psychological disorders
When exploring this type of pathology, it is necessary to understand that the physical and behavioral go hand in hand. Stress is not only a subjective feeling, because as we have seen in the previous section, it can be associated with changes in hormonal concentrations and many other quantifiable events.
Therefore, it is more than clear that insomnia is related to psychological diseases and, therefore, specific neuronal or metabolic events. For example, 90% of patients with major depressive disorder suffer from insomnia, 33% of panic attacks occur at night, and up to 80% of schizophrenic people suffer from sleep problems. With this data in hand, it is impossible not to establish an unequivocal correlation between mental disorders and difficulty resting.
4. Environment
The physical conditions of the space in which you rest can also lead to acute insomnia events.. As obvious as it may seem, poor posture, external noise, a hyperstimulating environment and many other factors can prevent the patient from resting, whether they are aware of it or not.
A curious case is that of mobile phones and other devices of constant use. Melatonin is a hormone produced naturally by multiple living beings that is associated with the sleep cycle in humans, but it seems that exposure to bright light before going to bed reduces its synthesis.
In an experiment carried out in 2017 by the University of Houston, it was shown that A group of volunteers with special glasses (which block the incidence of blue light) produced up to 58% more melatonin than the control group if they wore them three hours before going to bed. During two weeks. This makes it clear to us that screens hyperstimulate our body.
Insomnia is a multifactorial entity
As you have seen, explaining insomnia is an enormously complex task, since it is an entity that is due to genetic, physiological, psychological and environmental factors. As science advances and studies report more information, we are increasingly able to link more emotional disorders to quantifiable physiological patterns.
