Source: Wal-Mart Connect, 5/26/04
Sleep Position Reveals Your Personality
The position in which you sleep at night--whether it's all curled up in a fetal position or sprawled out across the bed--reveals your personality, Reuters reports of new research from Britain's Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service. Led by Chris Idzikowski, the team has identified six common sleep positions and the personalities of the people who sleep that way. "We are all aware of our body language when we are awake but this is the first time we have been able to see what our subconscious says about us," he told Reuters.
The six basic sleeping positions and the personality traits:
--Crouched in the fetal position: Shy and sensitive
--Soldier position (flat on the back with arms at the sides): Quiet and reserved
--On the side with legs outstretched and arms down: Social and easy-going
--On the side with legs outstretched and arms outstretched: Suspicious
--Flat on the tummy with hands at the sides of the head: Brash and gregarious
--On the back with outstretched arms and legs: Unassuming and a good listener
Crouched in the fetal position is most common way to sleep, assumed by fully 51 percent of women. The most unusual is on the stomach with only 6.5 percent of respondents saying they sleep this way. Once we adopt a preferred sleeping position, we rarely change it.
Think your personality is set in stone? Think again. Find out how five key personality traits may change as we age.
How 5 Personality Traits Change With Age
Conventional wisdom has long held that our personalities--largely governed by five key characteristics dubbed "The Big Five"--are genetic and pretty much set in stone by the time we turn 30. That may not be true.
After conducting an online study of 130,000 people aged 21 to 60, researchers at Stanford University, led by Sanjay Srivastava, say those key personality characteristics change throughout our lives.
"The Big Five" personality characteristics that are not dependent on mood are:
So how do we change with age? "We found a mixture of different patterns of how people change," Srivastava told New Scientist. "On average people were getting better at dealing with the ups and downs of life. In particular they were more responsive and more caring [with age]."
This is how our personalities tend to change with age:
What's the takeaway? On average, we get better as we get older. We care more about work, family, and our responsibilities. At the same time, we become less open to meeting new people. Women, but not men, worry less and as they age. "People are getting better at things as they age," Srivastava told Reuters. "They're not becoming grumpy old men."
The study findings, which are considered quite controversial, were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Paul Costa Jr., a researcher with the National Institute on Aging who has done pioneering work with the ''big five'' model, told USA Today that he is critical of the study. Instead of major personality changes after age 30, he thinks we only see ''nuance'' changes.
Your Music Choice Reveals Your Personality
Your choice in music--be it blues or country, jazz or alternative rock--reveals your personality traits.
The next time you go to a party and want to hook up with someone new, ask this question to find just the right person: What kind of music do you like? Turns out, the music a person likes also reveals fun facts about his or her personality, according to new research from the University of Texas at Austin.
...then you are intelligent, tolerant, and politically liberal.
...then you are cheerful, outgoing, reliable, and conventional.
...then you are physically active and a curious risk-taker.
...then you are outgoing and agreeable and generally eschew conservative ideals.
Memorize this list. When you ask that cute stranger what kind of music he or she likes, you'll know if the two of you will hit it off. "It assumes that knowing the answer tells you something about who they are" and whether or not to pursue a relationship, Dr. Peter J. Rentfrow, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin and the lead study author, told Reuters. Along with Dr. Samuel D. Gosling, Rentfrow conducted six studies on over 3,500 students examining their music preferences, beliefs about music, self-perceptions, and cognitive abilities.
Don't look now, but advertisers can also use the same psychology. Fitting just the right music with just the right product for just the right demographics could make sales soar. "We might come up with typologies comprised of music preferences, socioeconomic status, and age," Rentfrow predicted to Reuters.
He says there is very little research to date on music preferences and personalities because many consider it mundane. But Rentfrow doesn't agree. His findings suggest that personality, self-perception, and cognitive ability each play a role in the "formation and maintenance of music preferences."
What Happens If You Don't Sleep Enough?
We human beings are hardwired to sleep eight hours a day. What happens when we don't do this? No matter the reason, when we deprive our bodies of sleep, there are significant physical and mental consequences.
Dr. Rafael Pelayo of Stanford University's Sleep Disorder Clinic doesn't mince words. Sleep deprivation is dangerous, he told Healthology Inc.
This is what happens to your body if it's deprived of sleep:
While eight hours of sleep has long been considered the gold standard for pillow time, many of us can't sleep that long as we juggle the multiple demands of work and family. But be careful how much sleep time you lose on a regular basis. Surprisingly, if you sleep six hours a night, that's considered too little and could lead to sleep deprivation, according to researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine.
Lack of sleep isn't just a personal problem. It's an economic problem. When we don't sleep well, we cost our companies, communities, and ourselves money. Because of lack of sleep, approximately $90 billion a year is spent on lost productivity, absenteeism at work, car accidents, and sleep and stimulant medication, reports Healthology.
Too much sleep might be as bad for you as not enough sleep. Research from the Boston University School of Medicine showed that how much sleep you get each night is correlated with your rate of mortality. In a study of 4,541 men and women, those who slept for nine hours or longer were 70 percent more likely to die over a 14-month period than those who slept seven to eight hours. Those who slept six hours or less had a 50 percent higher chance of dying.
The optimal amount of sleep is seven to eight hours. The lead author of the Boston University study, Daniel Gottlieb, does note this: There is no direct association--that is, a cause and effect between sleep and mortality. Still, he told MSNBC that he finds the link striking and says further research is needed.
Here's a great reason to get your zzzzz. Sleep helps us learn better. According to the Journal of Sleep Research, the best way for us to learn and understand complex material is to sleep on it. And the sooner the better. HealthScoutNews reports that when a period of learning is immediately followed by a nap, the new information is incorporated in our dreams. When this happens, it turns up again and again as we sleep. It's this repetition that helps us master the complex concepts we were just taught in the classroom and establish the new ideas in our mind. This method of learning is actually better than writing down the information, reviewing the topic in the library, and highlighting notes--all common study habits of good students.
