What is another name for sleep state misperception?

The term sleep state misperception refers to a condition where individuals believe that they are not getting enough sleep when, in fact, they may be sleeping adequately or even longer than they perceive. Paradoxical insomnia is the specific term that captures this phenomenon. It highlights the discrepancy between a person's subjective experience of sleep—often reporting severe insomnia—and objective sleep measurements, which frequently show normal or near-normal sleep patterns.

Chronic insomnia generally involves problems with sleep onset, maintenance, or early awakening over a significant duration and is characterized by both subjective complaints and measurable disturbances, but it does not specifically address the misperception of sleep.

Psychophysiological insomnia describes a condition where psychological factors lead to insomnia more broadly, often involving anxiety about sleep itself, without necessarily involving the specific misperception of sleep state.

Sleep anxiety, while related to feelings of worry regarding sleep, does not encompass the specific misattribution of sleep quality or quantity inherent in sleep state misperception. Hence, calling it paradoxical insomnia precisely delineates the condition as a disconnect between perception and reality regarding sleep.