T-D-015 IMMUNOLOGIC ALTERATIONS IN INSOMNIA

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: There is evidence to support an MMPI somatization profile in those with insomnia (e.g., Kales et al., 1976; Levin et al., 1984). Indeed, the belief that insomnia will have serious adverse consequences on one’s health discriminates good sleepers from those with clinical insomnia, and modifying this belief with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT-I) is associated with improvement of wakefulness after sleep onset (Carney & Edinger, 2006). It is possible that some people with insomnia have significant levels of health-related anxiety, but this has yet to be examined. This study investigated the relationship between sleep and health anxiety by comparing good and poor sleepers on health anxiety. Materials and Methods: Participants (N = 119, 85.7% females; Mean age = 20.39 years old) were undergraduate students recruited from Ryerson University. Participants completed a battery of online questionnaires including the Short Health Anxiety Index (HAI; Salkovskis et al., 2002) to assess for health anxiety and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI; Morin, Vallieres, & Ivers, 2007) to assess for insomnia symptoms. Participants who scored ≤7 on the ISI were classified as good sleepers, and participants who scored ≥8 were classified as poor sleepers. Results: Of the sample, 55% of participants were classified as poor sleepers. Health anxiety scores were found to be significantly higher among poor (M = 17.64, SD = 8.10) versus good sleepers (M = 13.85, SD = 7.50, t(103) = -2.461, p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings suggest that relative to good sleepers, health anxiety is significantly elevated in poor sleepers. Should future investigations of health anxiety in clinical insomnia sufferers replicate this finding, it could lead to possible treatment add-ons to CBT-I. CBT for health anxiety is an empirically supported treatment (Barsky & Ahern, 2004) that may include tools that could be used in CBT-I.