Mindfulness profiles in a sample of self-reported sleep disturbance individuals

Abstract

There is some evidence that insomnia seems to constitute a heterogeneous sleep disorder in which different psychological and neurophysiological variables may have differential roles. Mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches suggest new constructs for psychopathology and health sciences which can be useful to investigate in insomnia. In this paper, our aim was to explore eventual homogenous subgroups pertaining to mindfulness within a selected sample of self-reported sleep disturbance individuals drawn from general population. Data from 483 individuals were collected via an online survey. From these, 74 were selected according to a cut-off point given by the European Portuguese version of the Insomnia Severity Index [ISI > 15]. Overall, 2 clusters were generated: A “low mindfulness” and a “high mindfulness” clusters within the subsample of sleep-disturbed individuals identified by the ISI cut-off point. According to our data, it seems feasible to differentiate subgroups of self-reported “insomnia” individuals according to their mindfulness profile. Further studies comprising larger samples and clinical groups are needed in order to validate these findings and verify whether other groups may also emerge. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.