Sleep and arousal in adults who recall chronic childhood trauma

Subjective sleep disturbance is commonly reported by childhood trauma survivors. However, evidence for objective sleep disturbance and its association with arousal is limited, especially in individuals without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study investigated subjective and objective measures of sleep and arousal in 50 adults who recalled having chronic childhood trauma and were free of PTSD and 50 age-and-gender-matched controls. We found that individuals who recalled childhood trauma had poorer subjective sleep quality and longer diary-assessed sleep onset latency and wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO) than controls, even after controlling for psychological distress. Differences in objective sleep parameters measured by polysomnography were not found. The childhood trauma group also had higher pre-sleep arousal and lower high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) at rest and under distress. HF-HRV under distress was found to be correlated with most subjective sleep parameters and objective WASO. Findings highlighted the need to investigate the potential role of dysregulation in parasympathetic activity in subjective sleep disturbance in adults recalling chronic childhood trauma.