The Natural History of Insomnia: What We Know, Don’t Know, and Need to Know

Abstract

To date, studies of the natural history of insomnia have focused on the prevalence, incidence, and persistence of chronic insomnia. While these studies have provided seminal information about the epidemiology of insomnia, no studies to date, have been conducted in a manner to 1) allow for a close resolution of the “transitions” from good sleep to acute insomnia, from acute insomnia to the recovery of good sleep, or from acute insomnia to chronic insomnia and/or 2) allow for a comprehensive assessment of the factors that have been theorized to mediate or moderate these transitions.1–4 The present paper provides a review of these issues and sets forth a research agenda.

Keywords

• Insomnia
• Natural history
• Etiology