This is what your personality type says about how you sleep and dream
My most embarrassing sleep habit is that I make weird noises when I’m in-between consciousness and sleep. It’s usually a “mmmmmmf” or a “unnnnnnh,” and I only know this because I wake myself up when I do it.
Whatever your own weird sleep habit is, a new study about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator might lend some insight as to why we do what we do. (Not familiar with Myers-Briggs? Take the test here.) Best Mattress Brand asked over 1,000 Americans to catalog their personality using the Myers-Briggs test, to study how certain traits affect the quality of sleep and the content of dreams.
Some of the most interesting personality type findings?
Have you ever dreamt of your teeth falling out? Some say these dreams can imply that you feel anxious about how others percieve you. According to the study, Introverts dream of their teeth falling out 14.2% more often than Extroverts. Perhaps because Introverts spend more time internalizing their innermost thoughts?
This one really applies to me: Individuals with the Feeling trait talk in their sleep 9.1% more often than those with the Thinking trait. Personally, I’m an INFP, so my Feeling trait must be the culprit behind my annoying mmmmmmfs.
How about those dreams where you’re running and running but you can’t run fast enough and you can’t scream and then your dream persona is done for? Turns out that people with the Intuitive trait dream about getting attacked 14.8% more often than those with the Sensing trait. Apologies, Intuitive people.
Lately, I keep having nightmares in which I’m pregnant. (I say “nightmare” because I don’t want children, so that fear is very near and dear to my terrified conscience.) The study found that Thinking people dream about getting pregnant 18.2% less often than Feeling people. Curse my INFP personality.
Have you ever had the experience of lucid dreaming? I can’t say I have, which is fitting, because apparently, Introverts have lucid dreams 10.9% less often than Extroverts. Perhaps the outgoing quality of Extroverts plays a role?
If you’re as intrigued as I was, you can check out the rest of the study here. At least we can take comfort in knowing that other people have the same awful dreams as us.