Affiliate Disclaimer
Some links in this article are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we find useful to our readers
We live in a world where being optimistic about something isn’t the easiest thing to do. With the constant negativity and the stress that we are surrounded with, it is hard to practice optimism all the time. But, what if you got to know that the people who do practice it are most likely going to get better sleep and sleep for longer too.
A new study (R) conducted by the researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign included over 3500 participants from the United States with varying ages and found that optimistic people did get better and longer sleep in comparison to the ones who weren’t. Optimism was the key there.
The study was predominantly done with young and middle aged people to gauge a better answer to the query that the researchers have been looking around for. The age group involved was in between 32 to 51 years of age and were mainly from Birmingham, Alabama, California, Chicago, Minneapolis and Oakland.
Rosalba Hernandez, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois, who is the lead author of the study stated that the results from the study does suggest the correlation of the characteristics of optimism with that of better results in sleeping patterns in the individuals. They did adjust to a number of variables involved in the same, health conditions, depressive symptoms as well as the socio-demographic characteristics being the primary ones.
In order to account the level of optimism within the participants, the researchers conducted a 10-item survey that included a five point scale in it, describing how much they agreed with the positive statements asserting the positive outcomes in their future including “I am always optimistic about my future” and statements similar to that.
The scores were tallied from six to thirty, six being the least optimistic and the 30 meaning the most optimistic.
The participants were made to report on the sleeping quality and length twice through the study, five years apart. They had to rate the duration as well as the quality of their sleep the prior month of when they were reporting of the same. Apart from the self reports, the research also assessed the signs of insomnia, difficulty in falling asleep or the problems that one could have been facing related to your sleeping patterns.
Including all the participants, there was particularly a subset of participants who were part of an ancillary sleep study that was solely based around in Chicago. In this, the participants were made to wear an activity monitor for three days straight. The same included two weeknights and one weekend night. They also wore the monitor on two specific occasions and that too, a year apart.
The monitors hooked to them were actively measuring the duration of the sleep, the percentage of the time that were asleep as well as the kind of restlessness that they experienced through the day.
Collecting all the standard data, Hernandez along with all of the other co-authors reported the fact that the odds of getting better sleep in individuals with optimism was 78% which was pretty amazing when you do come to think of it. Additionally, they also found that individuals with better levels of optimism did end up reporting a better quality of sleep during the night unabashedly.
These participants reported having gotten 6-9 hours of quality sleep which is pretty amazing for one’s overall health functions. They were also reported to have 74% lesser risks of insomnia as well as the daytime sleepiness that many often tend to struggle with.
If the statistical report by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention is to be considered, it is suggested that at least 1 out of 3 individuals in the United States fail to get quality and the adequate amount of sleep required for better functioning of the body. This further enhances the risks associated with the chronic diseases.
Hernandez further highlighted stating that the lack of quality sleep in individuals across the world is becoming a matter of public concern, one that enhances the risks of health issues like obesity, hypertension and a number of other chronic diseases. Additionally, the condition of dispositional optimism where one thinks that good things are about to happen to them in the future is actually an amazing way to induce a disease-free survival and promote better health in the individuals.
Even though the team of researchers involved in this did establish a very concrete relation between optimism and the prospect of better quality of sleep, the lead author of the study still believes that the condition should be managed well and handled around well.
The researchers aren’t still sure as to what is the market that helps in promoting better sleep in the individuals with optimism but they do believe that the same could be because of the condition of the lowered levels of stress in the body which influences them for the better.
They further believe that the optimists are more likely going to have better coping mechanisms to handle the shortcomings that they are faced with instead of letting the same overwhelm them. They are more likely to interpret things in a positive way, thus keeping one’s worry as well as the ruminating thoughts to a bare minimum like no other.
The connection between optimism as well as the good quality of sleep does require better understanding along the way that you possible didn’t have any idea about. The researchers are still trying to establish a solid reason behind the mechanism to further cement the credibility of the study.
