Your sleep habits reveal more than just how tired you are the next morning. Here are ten sleep habits and what they say about you.
Your sleep habits reveal things about you
"Our sleep habits are very closely linked to our health," says Dr. Annie Vallières, a psychologist at Laval University in Quebec City.
You may think that sleep is a quiet activity. However, how and when you sleep can tell a lot about your well-being and your health. "Your sleep patterns may even subtly indicate what type of person you are," adds the doctor.
Here are nine sleep habits that may reveal secrets about you.
1) Are you a morning or night person?
Being a person Morning or night gives a clue to your type of intelligence.
Morning is more likely to have better grades in school, according to a study in high school and college.
The night owls, on the other hand, generally have a higher mental capacity, which is accompanied by a greater professional success. In both cases, whether you are a lark in the morning or a night owl, you win: you are smart!
2) Do you fall asleep quickly?
"Many people think that they sleep well because they fall asleep during the day. We are often told at the clinic, "Look, my sleep is good because I can fall asleep anytime when I want it!" But that's not normal, "says Dr. Vallières. It's actually a telltale sign that you sleep badly. This could even be a symptom of undiagnosed sleep apnea.
3) Your sleep disturbed at some point in the month?
If you find that you sleep badly just before your period, it could mean that you are going into pre-menopause.
Before this period, women do not sleep differently according to the different phases of their menstrual cycle. However, as they approach the
pre-menopause, their brain waves reveal a less deep sleep in the days preceding their menstruation.
4) Sleep and wake up in sync with your partner
When your spouse leaves for the country of dreams, do you take the same train? Or does one of you get up early while the other is sleeping? Note this curious observation: if you tend to fall asleep and wake up together, it is likely that you will have a happy marriage.
In a study done at the University of Pittsburgh last year, it was concluded that the longer a woman's sleep / waking schedule matches that of her spouse, the greater her marital happiness is likely to be.
5) Do you miss sleep regularly?
This is a learned lesson from the story Golden Loops and the Three Bears. Researchers know that sleeping too much and sleeping little causes health problems and cognitive problems.
It is therefore important to sleep just the necessary. According to the Canadian Sleep Society, this means about eight hours for most adults.
What else can be said about you if you never sleep enough? You may have trouble maintaining a healthy weight because sleeping poorly seems to make you hungry and increase your cravings for high-carbohydrate, high-calorie foods.
6) The night owls who lack sleep
If, in addition to cutting your sleep time, you go to bed very late, you could be pessimistic.
People with this sleep habit tend to have more negative thoughts. They are also worried about the future and ruminate bad experiences of the past.
It is better to get enough sleep, but if you can not, sleeping earlier will help make a difference.
7) The best position to sleep
The right position to sleep would be on the side. You may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's later in your life. Additional research is needed, but rodent experiments at Stony Brook University in New York have shown that sleeping on the side - rather than on the back or belly - facilitates waste disposal. out of the brain. It is believed that waste accumulation in the brain is a factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
8) "I can not sleep"
In an international survey conducted by Philips Respironics, more than half of the respondents indicated that the biggest disrupter of their sleep was worry... about work or finances.
Naturally, it's hard to fall asleep when your mind beats the campaign, but Dr. Vallières wants to stress that "when you're worried about work and money, sometimes what you do is work more and look to make more money, and you do that in the evening or late at night. You then cut in your sleep time."
9) Do you sleep longer than before?
A recent study of adults over the age of 40 found that those who sleep more than eight hours a night are at greater risk of having a stroke. This risk is significantly higher for those who are accustomed to sleep little.
Researchers at Cambridge University do not know if longer sleep is a symptom of or contributes to health problems. But they think it's worth discussing with your doctor.