Daytime consequences and correlates of insomnia in the United States: results of the 1991 National Sleep Foundation Survey. II.

The daytime consequences and correlates of insomnia were examined in the National Sleep Foundation and the Gallup Organization survey of 1,000 randomly selected Americans. Respondents were grouped as having occasional insomnia, chronic insomnia or no insomnia. There were dramatic differences in reported waking behaviors and psychosocial measures by insomniacs compared to those who do not report sleep difficulty. These problems include impaired concentration, impaired memory, decreased ability to accomplish daily tasks and decreased enjoyment of interpersonal relationships. Importantly, most of these variables showed an increasing degree of impairment with greater frequency of sleep disturbance. These findings suggest that insomnia negatively impacts aspects of waking function related to quality of life.