How personality affects sleep quality
How easy you find drifting off at night could be down to your personality, a new study has shown.
According to research carried out on 1,000 Americans, introverts are more likely to suffer disrupted sleep than extroverts.
The study was carried out by Best Mattress Brand and involved participants’ personality traits being determined by the Myers Briggs Test.
Someone who focuses on the outer world is deemed an extrovert, whereas someone who prefers the inner world is classed as an introvert.
Although some experts believe the test isn’t useful in all situations, it’s widely considered to be a good marker of various character traits.
After participants took the test, they were asked a series of questions related to their sleep and dream experiences.
And the researchers found that personality type seems to correlate with both sleep quality and what we dream about.
Extroverts are more likely to sleep through the night without waking up, and perhaps unsurprisingly thus have more energy during the day and feel more alert.
In fact, extroverts are 17.7 per cent more likely to feel satisfied with their level of energy during waking hours than introverts.
Our dreams are affected too.
The researchers concluded that introverts are more likely to have nightmares and unclear dreams than extroverts.
The study found a difference in the content of our dreams too, with extroverts more likely to dream of traveling than introverts, whilst people who focus on the inner world are more prone to dreaming about their teeth falling out or punching something with no effect than more outgoing people.
Introverts also fall asleep when they want to stay awake more often than extroverts.
You may not be able to change your personality type, but getting enough sleep is essential for staying healthy in every way.
