SAN DIEGO, April 3 (UPI) -- A mild head injury has been found to increase risk of developing a sleep disorder, says a University of California, San Diego study.
"As many as 40 percent to 65 percent of people with mild traumatic brain injury complain of insomnia," said study author Liat Ayalon of the university in a statement.
The study in the journal Neurology found 15 of the 42 patients, or 36 percent, had a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, or problems with the timing of sleep. Of these patients, eight had a delayed sleep-phase syndrome, with problems falling asleep and waking up, and seven had irregular sleep-wake patterns.
The frequency of sleep disorders in this study is considerably higher than the rate of these disorders among people attending sleep clinics for insomnia, which is 7 percent to 10 percent, according to Ayalon.
Sleeping problems may exacerbate other brain injury symptoms such as headache, emotional distress and cognitive impairment, added Ayalon.
