Paradoxical insomnia is also called:

Paradoxical insomnia is also called:

• A. Idiopathic insomnia
• B. Hypnagogic hallucination
• C. Sleep state misperception
• D. Delayed sleep phase syndrome

Answer: (C)

Paradoxical insomnia centers on a mismatch between how the person feels about their sleep and what objective measurements show. People with this pattern report little or no sleep or believe they’ve slept poorly, yet when their sleep is tested with tools like polysomnography, they actually get a typical amount of sleep and normal sleep stages. That disconnect is why the term sleep state misperception is used—the mind perceives being awake or unrested even though the body has slept normally. The other terms describe different issues. Idiopathic insomnia is trouble sleeping for unknown reasons, without emphasis on a perception-versus-reality mismatch. Hypnagogic hallucinations are sensory experiences during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, not a perception problem about total sleep time. Delayed sleep phase syndrome is a circadian rhythm disorder where the person’s sleep is shifted later, not necessarily a misperception of how much sleep was obtained.

Paradoxical insomnia centers on a mismatch between how the person feels about their sleep and what objective measurements show. People with this pattern report little or no sleep or believe they’ve slept poorly, yet when their sleep is tested with tools like polysomnography, they actually get a typical amount of sleep and normal sleep stages. That disconnect is why the term sleep state misperception is used—the mind perceives being awake or unrested even though the body has slept normally.

The other terms describe different issues. Idiopathic insomnia is trouble sleeping for unknown reasons, without emphasis on a perception-versus-reality mismatch. Hypnagogic hallucinations are sensory experiences during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, not a perception problem about total sleep time. Delayed sleep phase syndrome is a circadian rhythm disorder where the person’s sleep is shifted later, not necessarily a misperception of how much sleep was obtained.