Sleep and arousal in adults who recall chronic childhood trauma

Abstract

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 posttraumatic stress disorder. This study investigated subjective and objective measures of sleep and arousal in 50 adults who recalled having chronic childhood trauma and were free of posttraumatic stress disorder and 50 age- and sex-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 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 presleep arousal and lower high-frequency heart rate variability at rest and under distress. High-frequency heart rate variability under distress was found to be correlated with most subjective sleep parameters and objective wakefulness after sleep onset. Findings highlighted the need to investigate the potential role of dysregulation in parasympathetic activity in subjective sleep disturbance in adults recalling chronic childhood trauma.

Citation: Ng AS-Y, Chan WS. Sleep and arousal in adults who recall chronic childhood trauma. J Clin Sleep Med. 2025;21(8):1487-1490.

Keywords: arousal; childhood trauma; heart-rate variability; skin conductance; sleep; trauma survivor.