In the first days after a concussion, common symptoms include headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, increased sleepiness or difficulty sleeping. Most of the time, people fully recover from these symptoms quite quickly.
But new research published in the Journal of Neurotrauma suggests some people’s symptoms can linger after a concussion and cause long-term sleep problems, which, in turn, can lead to other symptoms including reduced cognitive functioning, emotional distress and a lower quality of life.
Researchers tracked almost 400 patients after they had concussions and were treated at one of two emergency departments in Trondheim, Norway. They were compared with two control groups; patients who had other types of injuries than a head injury, and participants without any injuries.
The researchers found that symptoms including an increased need for sleep, poor sleep quality, daytime drowsiness and fatigue occurred more often and lasted longer in patients who’d had concussions compared to other injuries.
Overall, 136 participants experienced a sleep problem two weeks after their injury. Of these, 72 patients, just over half, had problems that lasted three months or longer. One third experienced symptoms for at least 12 months.
The findings indicate that a concussion can cause sleep disturbances and fatigue, even when compared to other types of injuries, and when age, sex, and history of previous psychiatric disorders are controlled for.
However, the researchers didn’t control for the fact that the proportion of patients injured because of violence was higher in the concussion group than the control group, and research has previously found that injuries caused by violence are associated with post-traumatic stress, depression and stress-related symptoms, including sleep problems and fatigue.
The researchers don’t yet know the association between sleep and brain health, but will be doing further research with the aim of shedding light on this, using brain imaging and blood tests on people whose sleep is disturbed.
