An induced emotional stressor differentially decreases subjective sleep quality in state-oriented but not in action-oriented individuals

Uncontrollable thoughts are considered to be one of the major factors leading to insomnia. One major source of uncontrollable thoughts may be emotional stress induced by deliberating personal problems and their consequences. If that is the case, a deliberating mindset should affect sleep quality mainly in state-oriented but not in action-oriented individuals, as action-oriented individuals are supposed to be more readily able to change their mindsets. After an adaptation and a baseline session, 37 healthy sleepers where exposed to a mindset induction before going to bed intended to stimulate them to deliberate on an unresolved personal problem. After this emotional stressor, state-oriented individuals showed a decrease in subjective but not in objective sleep quality, whereas sleep was not impaired in action-oriented individuals. Findings indicate a potential beneficial influence of an action-oriented mindset during the pre-sleep period.

► After stress, only state-oriented individuals were impaired in their sleep quality. ► Stress was induced letting participant deliberate a personal problem. ► Action-oriented individuals were not found to be impaired by the induced stressor. ► There were effects on subjective but not on objective sleep quality parameters. ► Subjective sleep quality decreased, when a deliberation could not be down-regulated.