How Sleep Cycle Can Depict Personality Traits, Explains This Study

There are so many things that sleep is associated with and your personality could be one of them. Whether your wake up early in the morning or sleep late at night, your sleep timings can tell a lot about you as a person. This is not a hypothesis but concluded from the study conducted by the University of Warwick and Tartu University. According to them, certain traits are common in people with the same sleep timings. To know what is yours, keep reading.

Sleeping patterns can not only assess your mood and health but also your personality traits. There are so many things common in early risers and night owls that they might have not known before. The Journal of Personality recently published a study titled ‘Personality Traits to Chronotype at Both the Phenotypic and Genetic Level’. This research talks about the link between sleep patterns, genetic and personality hierarchies of different people with the same set of sleep schedules.

Common Personality Traits of People With Same Sleep Schedule

Whether you wake up at 6am or 6pm, it can say a lot about your personality. Also, other people with the same sleep schedule may have some traits in common. In order to establish the link between sleep and personality, researchers analysed the sleep timings and personality traits at the genetic level. They found that traits depend on genetic factors. They established a phenotypic relationship between sleep timing and personality traits. Researchers divided personalities into three categories- personality domains, items and facets.

• It was found that people who get up early and sleep early have two personality traits in common- openness and conscientiousness. This was found at domain levels.
• On facet levels, a morning person is more self-disciplined, excitement-seeking and less straightforward.

The link between sleep timings and personality

One of the researchers from the University of Warwick, Dr. Anita Lenneis said, “Our findings have helped us to come up with two possible pathways of how personality might influence chronotype. Personality traits such as Conscientiousness and C5: Self-discipline, in particular, may influence chronotype through shaping people’s preferences for various social activities and behaviours which in turn, may influence what time people go to and get out of bed, or personality may influence chronotype is through active decisions people make regarding their sleep.”

She further added, “However, it could also be that chronotype influences personality or that chronotype and personality mutually influence each other. The findings of the genetic correlations support this view but further studies will be necessary to better understand the shared genetic mechanisms between the two constructs as well as the causality of their relationships.”

Also Read: What Does Your Smile Say About Your Personality?

Another Professor Anu Realo said, “Not only have we shown there is a relationship between chronotype, personality and partially your genes, our findings also suggest that it might be possible to change your chronotype or at least train yourself into a different more socially convenient sleep pattern by increasing your self-control. Ideally, work hours would be adapted to your chronotype, but if not, evening people who typically experience worse health could learn to go to bed at earlier hours which might also accelerate the release of melatonin. It is also influenced by artificial light, so regularly turning off the lights at earlier hours might also lead to falling asleep at earlier hours of the evening. However, future studies will need to investigate whether such interventions to enhance self-control would result in a permanent change or would indeed promote better health in later chronotype.”

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