Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran (MJIRI)

  Abstract

  Background: A significant relationship between psychiatric disorders principally

  depression and anxiety and insomnia is well-known in general population. Ahigh percent

  of insomnia sufferers report anxiety symptoms. Anxiety is also frequently seen in

  medical patients whom complaints of sleep problems are often prominent.

  Method: 250 outpatients with various medical complaints participated in the study

  and completed Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) and Beck Anxiety inventory

  (BAI).

  Results: The patients reported moderate anxiety on BAI. Significant correlations

  were found between anxiety and four components of sleep sleep quality, sleep latency,

  sleep duration and habitual sleep efficiency.

  Conclusion: The correlation of sleep complaints with anxiety symptoms indicated a

  high interrelatedness between anxiety and sleep complaints. Insomnia is a disorder of

  hyperarousal. Nonetheless inqury into mechanisms of arousal regulation could further

  explain the anxiety and sleep disorders as well.