Aspects of personality associated with irregular sleep habits in young adults

Abstract

Studied psychological correlates of irregularity in chronic sleep routines. The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and Cornell Medical Index (CMI) were administered to two groups of 18 male university students who were categorized as either irregular sleepers or control Ss. The control group was composed of persons who habitually slept from 12–8:00 A.M. Irregular sleepers were defined as those whose retiring and awakening times continuously varied by about 2 to 4 hours. Control Ss. scored significantly higher than the irregular group on the CPI scales of Do (dominance), Sy (sociability), Sa (self‐acceptance), Sc (self‐control), Ac (achievement via conformance), and Ie (intellectual effeciency), but lower on the Fx (flexibility) scale. There were no significant differences between the groups in scores on the CMI or average sleep length recorded over 2 weeks. The present findings indicate that in young adults, personality functioning is related more closely to the regularity of nocturnal sleep routines than to differences in chronic sleep duration. It is postulated that stable or irregular sleeping patterns are largely dependent factors not only of the psychological characteristics that distinguished the groups, but as yet unspecified constitutional and sociocultural antecedents of the human sleep response.

Importance of regular lifestyle with daytime bright light exposure on circadian rhythm sleep–wake disorders in pervasive developmental disorders

“…Kuppermann et al (1995) conducted a survey of the daytime consequences and correlates of sleep problems and found them to be associated with mental health problems; physical problems such as headaches, neck, back, or muscle pain and gastrointestinal problems; and lower quality of life such as poorer self-rated health, less energy, worse cognitive functioning and lower job performance [9]. Several studies have also reported that irregular sleep-wake rhythms were associated with deactivated daytime functions and poor emotional states [10][11][12]. Lower levels of dominance, sociability, self-acceptance, self-control, achievement via conformance, and intellectual efficiency were also observed in habitual irregular sleepers compared with regular sleepers [11].…”

“…Several studies have also reported that irregular sleep-wake rhythms were associated with deactivated daytime functions and poor emotional states [10][11][12]. Lower levels of dominance, sociability, self-acceptance, self-control, achievement via conformance, and intellectual efficiency were also observed in habitual irregular sleepers compared with regular sleepers [11]. Self mutilation common in PDDs is increased with emotional problems and oral mutilation includes multiple ulcerations, gingival irritation lesions and autoextracted teeth [13].…”

Nocturnal Electrographic Features of Frequently Changing-Irregular Sleep-Wakefulness Rhythms

“…Features of variability which successfully discriminated sleep-poiygraphic indices associated with the highly irregular rest-activity schedules (in the deviant sample) at statistically significant (p<0.05) levels are presented in Table 2. Table 2, which summarizes these results, confirms the expectably (Taub, 1978a;Taub & Hawkins, 1979; greater nightly variability than for controls reflected by larger SDs in the latency to sleep onset (15.5 vs. 5.8, p<O.OOl), total time asleep (50.4 vs. 19.2, p<0.02), stage 2 (48.6 vs. 21.4, pt0.01), intercurrent wakefulness (28.8 vs.…”

“…163-164). Seldom have variations in chronic retiring and awakening times combined been seriously considered to potentiate serious disturbances of the major night sleep cycle which are also apparently incompatible with alert wakeful behavior (Taub, 1978a;Taub & Hawkins, 1979; reviewed by Taub, in press). Would such aimlessness in the 24-hr repertoire of sleep-wakefulness conduct be compensated by the stability intrinsic to the ultradian (90-min) REM-NREM cycle which rectifies excesses accrued and/or deficiencies incurred (e.g., Taub, 1980a)?…”

“…261-272;Breithaupt, Hilderbrandt, Dohre, Josch, Sieber, & Werner, 1978;Ostberg, 1973;Patkai, 1971 polygraphic results (Taub, 1980a) as discrete subgroups ( N s = 8) when allowed to retire and awaken on an ad libitum schedule. The present, purely polygraphic investigation received an impetus from two relatively recent reports (Taub, 1978a;Taub & Hawkins, 1979) on young adults ( N = 18) predisposed to chronic (B = 8 yrs), frequently changing-irregular sleep-wake behavior in the everyday environment. These vacillations, however, fez1 within the range of that commonly transpiring on an acute basis either fortuitously (Bruce & Taub, 1980, p. 269), by circumstance (Taub & Berger, 1973), or combinations thereof in the general adult human population (i.e., 11 : 30 p.m.-7:30 a.m., f1.5 hr) yet defy any coherent summary.…”