Researchers at the Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, have been linking the fear of the dark amongst people to the development of insomnia in them, a report has uncovered recently.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has found that around 30% of adults are sufferers of Insomnia with 15% seriously affected. Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that shows symptoms like waking up too early, difficulty in remaining asleep or poor-quality sleep.

A number of factors may contribute to the illness that often comes with age, including medications such as antidepressants or stimulant drugs taken to treat ADHD.

The research team, including Colleen Carney, PhD, associate professor of psychology and colleagues, had enrolled around a hundred participants for the sleep lab experiments and saw that participants were afraid of the dark.

Most people had told them that they sleep with TV or light on for the whole night. Also, the Insomnia Severity Index filled in by the participants confirmed the link between fear and the illness.

"This emphasizes the point that understanding the mind of the insomniac can be very important in determining the cause of the insomnia and formulating its treatment", says Karl Doghramji, MD, Medical Director of the Jefferson Sleep Disorders Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.