Insomnia May Spur Anxiety Disorders

Posted on November 22, 2007 in Latest News

According to the Norwegian study, chronic insomnia can be one of the causes in development of anxiety disorder. The research defined chronic insomnia as a state in which a person is unable to sleep or troubled in staying asleep for at least one month. This Norwegian research finding was published in latest edition of Sleep Journal.

The research was conducted under the leadership of Dr. Dag Neckelmann, Psychiatry Department of Haukeland University in Bergen, Norway. His team screened people from Norwegian population suffering from chronic insomnia as well as depression or an anxiety disorder.

They were able to screen about 25,000 Norwegian adults with insomnia and anxiety disorder. The research was a survey based questionnaire which was first conducted in mid 1980 and the second survey was conducted 11 years later.

The research team excluded people who already had anxiety disorder at the time of 1st survey. The research team’s main interest was in people with chronic insomnia in 1st survey as they were likely to develop anxiety disorder till the 2nd survey.

Although chronic insomnia could not predict the development of depression but this doesn’t mean that both are not related. People suffering from chronic insomnia are more prone to develop anxiety or depression.

Other factors like sex, age and education level of the participant were also considered during the research. Finally researchers concluded that by reducing chronic insomnia you can prevent anxiety disorder development.

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