Grant: Operating Grant

Insomnia affects about 10% of Canadians; it is chronic and debilitating in part because it is recurrent, and carries significant risk for developing other costly conditions such as cardiovascular and mental disorders. Understanding the cognitive vulnerability factors for other psychological conditions has led to significant treatment improvements; thus, advancing understanding of cognitive risk factors for insomnia will likely pay the same healthcare and well-being dividends. Compared with good sleepers, people with insomnia have unhelpful thinking about sleep. For example, they believe they must exert effort to sleep and to cope with sleep loss. Unfortunately such thoughts underlie compensatory behaviours that interfere with the body's natural compensatory system for sleep loss and perpetuate insomnia. In this project, we will investigate whether cognitive factors predict risk for future insomnia. In Study 1, people who have never experienced insomnia, and people with past but not current insomnia will complete an innovative cognitive reactivity test (CRT) to measure a latent tendency towards unhelpful thinking when experiencing fatigue. In Study 2 we will follow participants for one year, during which they will complete measures and track their sleep. We will test whether specific thinking styles predict the development or recurrence of insomnia across the year. Also, we will test the value of the CRT for uncovering a latent cognitive vulnerability to insomnia in those with asymptomatic sleep. In Study 3, we will assess the extent to which cognitive-behavioural insomnia treatment (CBT-I) modifies cognitive risk for insomnia. These studies will help us predict cognitive risk for insomnia occurrence and recurrence and to what extent CBT-I reduces cognitive vulnerability. The findings will be used to inform prevention and refinements to existing insomnia interventions.