Does Psoriasis Cause Insomnia or Does Insomnia Cause Psoriasis?

When psoriasis symptoms worsen, so can a patient’s sleep, and when plagued by restless nights, the stress can in turn provoke itching and pain. The psoriasis-insomnia connection is a vicious cycle of which physicians are well aware, but patients are usually left on their own to figure out the best personalized treatment.

Many patients with moderate to severe psoriasis grapple with depression and insomnia. A 2016 Psoriasis in America survey found that 44 percent of participants have trouble sleeping because of their symptoms.  In a 2018 study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, study authors found that 25 percent of psoriasis patients suffer from clinical insomnia, whereas that figure hovers around 10 percent for those who don’t have psoriasis. Some findings have pointed to lack of sleep as psoriasis’ being the culprit to  not getting enough sleep. Not catching up on sleep can cause tissue inflammation, which can result in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

Itching is what usually keeps people up or wakes them up in the middle of the night. Calculated timing of topical treatment application has found to decrease itching, and routine moisturizing can keep symptoms at bay. A 2016 study found that biologics therapy, a treatment typically used to fight cancer by boosting the immune system, is successful at decreasing rates of depression and insomnia among psoriasis patients.