Study shows that looking at the time when you can't sleep worsens insomnia

Insomnia affects between 4 and 22% of adults and is associated with long-term health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression..

The current pace of life, personal and work concerns and even the use of screens until a moment before going to bed are behind most of our problems falling asleep. Whatever it is that prevents us from sleeping, many of us, in a gesture of despair, look at the clock and even count the hours until the alarm clock goes off, thus increasing our nervousness.

Now, research by a professor at Indiana University, in the United States, shows that looking at the clock while trying to fall asleep aggravates insomnia and causes an increase in the consumption of sleeping pills.

The research, led by Spencer Dawson, an adjunct clinical professor and associate director of clinical training in the Department of Brain and Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, focuses on a sample of nearly 5,000 patients attending a sleep clinic. .

Participants filled out questionnaires about the severity of their insomnia, the use of sleep medication, and the time they spent monitoring their own behavior while trying to fall asleep.. They were also asked to report any psychiatric diagnoses. The researchers performed mediation analyzes to determine how the factors influenced each other.

“We found that the time spent monitoring behavior primarily influences the use of sleep medication because it exacerbates symptoms of insomnia,” Dawson said.

“People worry they're not getting enough sleep, so they start calculating how long it will take to get back to sleep and when they have to get up. That's not the kind of activity that is helpful in facilitating the ability to fall asleep – the more stressed you are, the harder it is to fall asleep.”

As frustration with insomnia increases, people are more likely to turn to sleep aids in an attempt to control their sleep.

A trick that can help you

Dawson says the research, published in The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders, indicates that a simple behavioral intervention could help those with insomnia. Give the same advice to all new patients the first time they meet.

“One thing people could do would be to flip or cover their watch, get rid of the smartwatch, move the phone away so they're just not looking at the time,” Dawson has suggested, to make the point that “there's nowhere that looking at the clock is especially helpful.

With 15 years of research and clinical experience in the field of sleep, Dawson is interested in comparing people's sleep experiences with what is happening simultaneously in their brains.