The 4 differences between stress and insomnia: keys to distinguish between them

A review of the differences between stress and insomnia, both associated with psychological arousal.

Almost everyone has experienced or will experience some episode of stress or insomnia in the course of their lives.

However, although these two pathologies have things in common and may even occur together, the reality is that they have characteristics that make them very different. We are going to review all these qualities to better understand both concepts, through a summary of the differences between insomnia and stress..

What are the differences between stress and insomnia?

In order to know the differences between stress and insomnia, the first thing to do is to define each of these elements.

Stress is a physiological response to a threatening situation, which can be punctual or sustained over time.It is therefore an adaptive response, in the first case, to a pathology, in the second, which can have consequences for the physical and mental health of the person who suffers continuous stress.

In fact, there is a cataloguing between different types of stress in which the origin of the stress and therefore the usefulness of the physiological reaction of the organism are distinguished. In the first case, we would speak of positive stress, or eustress, in which our body prepares itself to confront a situation that requires an extra effort.. The other typology would be negative stress, or distress. In this case, the physiological activation exceeds the levels of our equilibrium, and it is when the negative symptomatology appears.

To further distinguish the differences between stress and insomnia, let us now define the second element. It is a sleep disturbance that can manifest itself in a variety of ways. a sleep disturbance that can manifest itself in a variety of ways, either as difficulty falling asleep at the beginning of the nightIt can take the form of difficulty falling asleep at the beginning of the night, having a light sleep that causes us to wake up repeatedly, or waking up very early and no longer being able to fall asleep again. As with stress, insomnia can appear as an isolated episode, due to different causes, or it can manifest itself in acute and even chronic phases, the longer it is maintained over time.

Although it may seem to be a minor problem insomnia can have very serious repercussions on the person who suffers from it, if the situation is not corrected as soon as possible.If the situation is not corrected in time, the lack of restful sleep over a long period of time can have consequences at the organic and psychological level and in all areas of the subject's life. To avoid reaching this situation there are different therapies with a good degree of effectiveness, although logically, the best solution will be to go to the root of the problem and tackle it.

Stress as a cause of insomnia

One of the differences between stress and insomnia is that one can often precede the other. The most common way for this to happen is that it is a situation of continuous stress that also ends up leading to a sleep disturbance and therefore to the dreaded insomnia. And the fact is that stress can present a very wide symptomatology, mostly with indicators of anxiety, but also of depression, a decrease in sleep and therefore in the dreaded insomnia.but also of depression, a decrease in the ability to concentrate, and difficulties in falling asleep.

In this case, it would be important to take measures to alleviate the effects of insomnia and resolve it as soon as possible, because without adequate rest, it will be difficult for the rest of the treatments applied to have an effect. But, since stress is the cause of the sleep disturbance, it is logical to assume that the best way for this to end up remitting is precisely to act against the situation that is creating this stress maintained over time, so that, once it disappears, it will be possible to reduce it.Once the threat has disappeared, the levels of physiological activation are reduced.

Of course, this is not always easy and unfortunately we often face stressful situations in our daily lives, at work, in our family relationships that to some degree are beyond our control. The key to being able to face them would be the attitude with which we face them, and many times an adequate psychological treatment can provide us with the tools we need to be able to assume life situations without them being so stressful.

And the fact is that many situations are not stressful in themselves, but depend on the circumstances of each person and their personal characteristics, their learning history, etc. Therefore, if we learn to manage a situation that at first seems threatening to us, but with the right training we are able to manage it. with the appropriate training we are able to manage without suffering an overflowing physiological activation, it is to be expected that we will make it easier to manage the situation without suffering an overflowing physiological activation.It is to be expected that we will facilitate the disappearance of all the symptomatology, and with it, the insomnia.

Insomnia as a cause of stress

Continuing in the line of discovering the differences between stress and insomnia, we also find another situation, less common, but also possible. Sometimes insomnia can be the first insomnia may be the first factor to appear and this may cause a situation in the patient that facilitates the emergence of stress.Therefore, we would be talking about an inverse situation to the previous case, and therefore the way to deal with it would also be different.

In this case, suffering from sleep problems on a continuous basis could translate, among other things, into a high level of anxiety and frustration, since the lack of rest would cause us to have problems to face situations that at other times would not pose any challenge, due to the decrease in resources that our body would have to manage different events. This could end up generating the appearance of the dreaded stress, and therefore be a consequence of insomnia, and not a cause of it..

But many times events are not so linear, but rather vicious circles are established in which an imbalance in the person's life generates both disorders, either at the same time, or because one triggers the other and at the same time they feed back on each other. It seems complicated, but in reality it is very common. A person who begins to live situations of high demand could begin to suffer stress, and that this would trigger problems to sleepand insomnia may appear.

But at the same time, this insomnia would detract resources for stress management that was already causing many difficulties, which would aggravate the physiological activation, and therefore so would the symptoms, including insomnia. It is evident that this is a situation that cannot be maintained over time, since the physical and mental wear and tear that this entails for the subject is enormous, constant and increasing. Therefore, he/she will need both medical and psychological help to return to stability.

Several of the differences between stress and insomnia are now clear, and that is the pattern of onset between the twoOne of the pathologies may precede the other, appear separately, or appear at the same time and cause one to aggravate the situation of the other, this being the most delicate of all possible situations and the one that requires the earliest and most effective attention to put an end as soon as possible to the feedback spiral that has been entered.

The use of cannabinoids to treat insomnia and stress

In reference to the most severe cases of stress combined with insomnia, studies have been carried out to evaluate the usefulness of the use of cannabinoids in the reduction of all these symptoms.

Specifically, we will focus on the 2011 study by Próspero et al, carried out in Mexico. On this occasion they worked with laboratory rats, which were induced a state of chronic stress through a chemical process. For this purpose, they were injected with a dose of dexamethasone while they were in the process of gestation.

In this way, the offspring were born with a peculiar condition: when faced with a stressful stimulus, they acted disproportionately, so it could be said that they had acquired a risk-avoidance attitude. A process was then initiated by which the state of chronic stress and insomnia they were looking for to be able to carry out the experiment was achieved. endocannabinoids were applied in order to observe the effects on the pathologies..

What was observed was a notable decrease in the symptomatology that had previously been generated, so the authors conclude that this element had a fundamental role in the improvement of stress and insomnia due to emotional causes (which is caused by stress), so they invite further research to find another method, in this case pharmacological, to help people who suffer from these problems in their daily lives.

Bibliographic references:

• Del Río, I.Y. (2006). Stress and sleep. Mexican Journal of Neuroscience.
• Escobar-Córdoba, F., Folino, J.Ó., Eslava-Schmalbach, J. (2008). Posttraumatic stress symptoms and sleep disorders in a group of adult women in Bogotá. Universitas Médica.
• Prospero, G., Mendez, M., Ruiz, A.E., Alvarado, I., Rosenthal, L. (2011). Insomnia, stress and cannabinoids. Mexico. Mental Health.
• Valdés, M., De Flores, T. (1985). Psychobiology of stress. Barcelona: Martínez Roca.