Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jun 15;9(6):559-66.
doi: 10.5664/jcsm.2750.

Sleep habits, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness in a large and healthy community-based sample of New Zealanders

Bradley R Wilsmore  1 , Ronald R Grunstein, Marlene Fransen, Mark Woodward, Robyn Norton, Shanthi Ameratunga
Affiliations

Sleep habits, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness in a large and healthy community-based sample of New Zealanders

Bradley R Wilsmore et al. J Clin Sleep Med. .

Abstract

Study objectives: To determine the relationship between sleep complaints, primary insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, and lifestyle factors in a large community-based sample.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Blood donor sites in New Zealand.

Patients or participants: 22,389 individuals aged 16-84 years volunteering to donate blood.

Interventions: N/A.

Measurements: A comprehensive self-administered questionnaire including personal demographics and validated questions assessing sleep disorders (snoring, apnea), sleep complaints (sleep quantity, sleep dissatisfaction), insomnia symptoms, excessive daytime sleepiness, mood, and lifestyle factors such as work patterns, smoking, alcohol, and illicit substance use. Additionally, direct measurements of height and weight were obtained.

Results: One in three participants report < 7-8 h sleep, 5 or more nights per week, and 60% would like more sleep. Almost half the participants (45%) report suffering the symptoms of insomnia at least once per week, with one in 5 meeting more stringent criteria for primary insomnia. Excessive daytime sleepiness (evident in 9% of this large, predominantly healthy sample) was associated with insomnia (odds ratio [OR] 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.50 to 2.05), depression (OR 2.01, CI 1.74 to 2.32), and sleep disordered breathing (OR 1.92, CI 1.59 to 2.32). Long work hours, alcohol dependence, and rotating work shifts also increase the risk of daytime sleepiness.

Conclusions: Even in this relatively young, healthy, non-clinical sample, sleep complaints and primary insomnia with subsequent excess daytime sleepiness were common. There were clear associations between many personal and lifestyle factors-such as depression, long work hours, alcohol dependence, and rotating shift work-and sleep problems or excessive daytime sleepiness.

Keywords: Epidemiology; insomnia; sleep; sleepiness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow chart for primary insomnia (values are percentages of non-missing values)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Backhaus J, Junghanns K, Mueller-Popkes K, et al. Short-term training increases diagnostic and treatment rate for insomnia in general practice. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2002;252:99–104. - PubMed
    1. Mendelson WB. Long-term follow-up of chronic insomnia. Sleep. 1995;18:698–701. - PubMed
    1. National Institutes of Health State of the Science Conference statement on Manifestations and Management of Chronic Insomnia in Adults, June 13-15, 2005. Sleep. 2005;28:1049–57. - PubMed
    1. Simon GE, VonKorff M. Prevalence, burden, and treatment of insomnia in primary care. Am J Psychiatry. 1997;154:1417–23. - PubMed
    1. Godet-Cayre V, Pelletier-Fleury N, Le Vaillant M, Dinet J, Massuel MA, Leger D. Insomnia and absenteeism at work. Who pays the cost? Sleep. 2006;29:179–84. - PubMed