Research

Mixed

In patients with insomnia disorder, hyperconnectivity within the anterior default mode network (DMN) and increased connectivity between the salience network (SN) and the anterior DMN underlie affective symptoms and hyperarousal.

For insomnia patients, this research suggests that the problem is not just 'trying to sleep' but involves specific brain networks (DMN and Salience Network) that are hyperactive and failing to deactivate. This supports interventions like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) which aim to reduce this cognitive and emotional hyperarousal, rather than just focusing on sleep environment or supplements.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
clinical symptomatology of insomnia might be overwhelmingly underwritten by abberant hyperconnectivity within the anterior DMN and its connectivity with the SN
Habibolah Khazaie et al. · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · 2017

Why this rating

Based on a systematic review of multiple rs-fMRI studies (ICA, seed-based FC) showing consistent findings across insomnia cohorts.

Source

Functional reorganization in obstructive sleep apnoea and insomnia: A systematic review of the resting-state fMRI

Habibolah Khazaie et al. · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · 2017

DOI 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.03.013

systematic_reviewCited 168×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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