Daytime Autonomic Nervous System Functions Differ Among Adults with and Without Insomnia Symptoms

Study Objectives: We gathered data to determine whether daytime assays of the autonomic nervous system would differ between persons with no vs modest insomnia symptoms and would correlate with the severity of insomnia symptoms in patients.

Methods: This report is composed of 2 studies. Study 1 conducted pupillary light reflex (PLR) measurements in community volunteers who were not seeking medical care. Study 2 contrasted PLR and heart rate variability in a different sample of community volunteers and a comparison sample of adults seeking outpatient care for insomnia and psychiatric problems. All measurements were taken between 3 and 5 pm.

Results: In Study 1, volunteers with modest insomnia symptom severity had a more rapid PLR average constriction velocity compared with those with no symptoms. In Study 2, lower heart rate variability, indicating higher levels of physiologic arousal, generally were in agreement with faster PLR average constriction velocity, both of which indicate higher levels of arousal. Insomnia symptom severity was highly correlated with faster average constriction velocity in the patient sample.

Conclusions: These studies suggest that (1) daytime measurements of the autonomic nervous system differ between persons with modest vs no insomnia symptoms and (2) insomnia symptom severity is highly correlated with PLR. Daytime measurement of autonomic nervous system activity might allow for daytime point-of-care measurement to characterize the level of physiologic arousal to define a hyperarousal subtype of insomnia disorder.

Citation: McCall WV, Looney SW, Zulfiqar M, et al. Daytime autonomic nervous system functions differ among adults with and without insomnia symptoms. . 2023;19(11):1885-1893.