Understanding insomnia as systemic disease
Open Access
- 31 October 2021
- journal article
- Published by Yeungnam University College of Medicine in Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
- Vol. 38 (4), 267-274
- https://doi.org/10.12701/yujm.2021.01424
Abstract
Sleep plays a critical role in homeostasis of the body and mind. Insomnia is a disease that causes disturbances in the initiation and maintenance of sleep. Insomnia is known to affect not only the sleep process itself but also an individual’s cognitive function and emotional regulation during the daytime. It increases the risk of various neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression, anxiety disorder, and dementia. Although it might appear that insomnia only affects the nervous system, it is also a systemic disease that affects several aspects of the body, such as the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems; therefore, it increases the risk of various diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and infection. Insomnia has a wide range of effects on our bodies because sleep is a complex and active process. However, a high proportion of patients with insomnia do not seek treatment, which results in high direct and indirect costs. This is attributed to the disregard of many of the negative effects of insomnia. Therefore, we expect that understanding insomnia as a systemic disease will provide an opportunity to understand the condition better and help prevent secondary impairment due to insomnia.Keywords
This publication has 88 references indexed in Scilit:
- Alterations in Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal/Thyroid Axes and Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone in the Patients with Primary Insomnia: A Clinical ResearchPLOS ONE, 2013
- Risk of Dementia in Patients with Insomnia and Long-term Use of Hypnotics: A Population-based Retrospective Cohort StudyPLOS ONE, 2012
- Circadian system, sleep and endocrinologyMolecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 2012
- Sleep Restriction for 1 Week Reduces Insulin Sensitivity in Healthy MenDiabetes, 2010
- Interoception in anxiety and depressionBrain Structure and Function, 2010
- The association between insomnia and cardiovascular diseasesNature and Science of Sleep, 2010
- Nocturnal levels of ghrelin and leptin and sleep in chronic insomniaPsychoneuroendocrinology, 2009
- How (and why) the immune system makes us sleepNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009
- Sleep and affect in older adults: using multilevel modeling to examine daily associationsJournal of Sleep Research, 2008
- Short Sleep Duration Is Associated with Reduced Leptin, Elevated Ghrelin, and Increased Body Mass IndexPLoS Medicine, 2004