Scientists at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience studied thousands of people who had voluntarily signed up to an online sleep registry.

They concluded that insomnia has five subtypes that differ by personality traits, risk for depression, brain activity, and response to treatment.

The team suggests that the findings will likely speed up research on insomnia and lead to better, more personalized treatments.

The Lancet Psychiatry journal has now published a paper on the study.

"While we have always considered insomnia to be one disorder," says Tessa Blanken of the Department of Sleep and Cognition, "it actually represents five different disorders."

She likens progress in insomnia research to that of dementia, which has uncovered subtypes with marked differences in underlying brain mechanisms.

Dementia research progressed much faster after scientists identified its various types, which include Alzheimer's disease, frontal temporal dementia, and vascular dementia.

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