The association between insomnia and bedroom habits and bedroom characteristics: an exploratory cross-sectional study of a representative sample of adults.

OBJECTIVES: Major age and sex differences are reported in bedroom habits and bedroom characteristics. However, few studies have investigated whether such bedroom habits and characteristics differ between patients with chronic insomnia disorder and good sleepers.

METHODS: We assessed the association between several bedroom habits (i.e. electronic media use, bed sharing) and bedroom characteristics (i.e. bedroom temperature, blackout curtains) and chronic insomnia disorder among 1001 randomly selected adults responding to a telephone survey in Norway. Response rate was 63%. Insomnia symptoms were evaluated with the validated Bergen Insomnia Scale (with ICSD-3/DSM-5 criteria).

RESULTS: Chronic insomnia disorder was associated with reporting worse bed comfort, having newer beds, more noise stemming from both within and outside the building, higher bedroom temperature during the summer, and not preferring the supine position when trying to sleep. However, we found no associations between chronic insomnia disorder and electronic media use in bed, reading in bed, how important the mattress, pillow and comforter were rated, bed sharing, bedroom temperature during winter, open or closed bedroom window, use of blackout curtains, and most self-reported preferred body positions for sleep.

CONCLUSION: We found few and small differences in bedroom habits and bedroom characteristics between respondents with and without chronic insomnia disorder. Future studies with experimental and longitudinal designs should investigate whether and how such habits and characteristics are causally and temporally linked to insomnia.