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Stress-Induced Insomnia

Meaning

Stress-Induced Insomnia is a specific sleep disorder characterized by persistent difficulty with initiating or maintaining sleep, or experiencing non-restorative sleep, that is directly caused or significantly worsened by psychological, emotional, or physiological stress. This condition is fundamentally rooted in the overactivation of the body’s central stress response system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which disrupts the delicate neuroendocrine and autonomic balance required for the transition to and maintenance of healthy sleep. Clinically, it often manifests as a temporary, acute episode that can become chronic if the underlying stress is not resolved.