A new study links an over-attentive, wandering mind to insomnia, as brain scans reveal that for those suffering from the sleep disorder, certain regions of their brain do not shut down properly after performing tasks associated with working memory, the Daily Mail reports.
Researchers from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine wrote that those who suffer from primary insomnia, a form of sleep deprivation not caused by other conditions such as depression, chronic pain or substance abuse, do not have brains that function efficiently during the day. They compared the MRI scans of 25 regular sleepers with those of 25 insomniacs (average age 35), and found that while both groups completed "working memory" tasks with equal efficiently, the insomniacs' brain did not "dial down" its default mode after finishing the task.
Notably, healthy sleepers involved in the research were able to "switch on more parts of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to tackle the memory tasks" as compared to those who had trouble falling alseep each night.
"'Some aspects of insomnia are as much of a daytime problem as a night time problem. It is not surprising that someone with insomnia would feel like they are working harder to do the same job as a healthy sleeper," Sean Drummond, associate psychiatry professor at the University of California who led the study, told the Daily Mail, adding that "daytime problems are associated with organic, measurable abnormalities of brain activity, giving us a biological marker for treatment success."
The new study on insomnia could help pave the way for further research on the condition that's origins is often puzzling to scientists. However, daytime functioning can also be affected by drugs used to combat the disorder.
According to HealthDay News, roughly 4 percent of American adults have used a prescription sleep aide in the last year, and health officials report that use increases with age. Drugs like temazepam (Restoril) and quazepam (Doral) were used in the new study on sleep drugs in which researchers looked at National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data between the years 2005 and 2010. Sleep disorders such as insomnia are estimated to affect 50 to 70 million Americans each year.
Though doctors urge insomnia sufferers to seek the appropriate course of treatment through health care professionals, U.S. Food and Drug Administration is concerned that such medications may impair a person's ability to drive the next morning, as affects of the drugs taken the night before can last well into the next day.
Dr. Alon Avidan, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, told HealthNews Today that most patients suffering from insomnia have underlying problems that they need to address
"We should be looking at insomnia as not just managing the insomnia itself, but also treating the underlying disease," he said. "But treating the underlying condition doesn't mean the insomnia will go away," he said. "What we generally do is we treat the insomnia separately from...the underlying condition. When we treat both conditions, the end result is much better than addressing one symptom alone."
