Sleep Position And Personality: Is There A Tie? Experts Not So Sure

Side. Stomach. Back. Fetal: Most people have a preferred sleeping position. But can the way you get shut-eye say something about your personality?

Several news outlets including the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and Fox have recently cited research that asserts a direct connection between sleeping positions and psychological characteristics.

But some experts say there is little evidence to back up the claims. And as it turns out, the recently cited "research" is actually a survey -- conducted by a hotel chain -- about the most common sleep positions.
Robert Phipps, a U.K.-based body language specialist, then gave an analysis he says was akin to a horoscope.

"Yes, it was never meant to be taken seriously and there was no research on my part," Phipps told The Huffington Post in an email.

The analysis in question linked sleep positions with different personality characteristics. As the Telegraph reported:

People who sleep in the fetal position are "worriers." (The tighter they curl up, the more comfort they're supposedly seeking.) Those who sleep on their stomachs, with their arms stretched are "free fallers. (They reportedly feel their lives are out of their control.) "Yearners" -- those who sleep on their sides, with their arms outstretched -- have a dream-chasing nature about them. And "Logs," those who sleep straight, have rigid personalities.

Despite the idea of a "sleep-o-scope" sounding somewhat far-fetched, this isn't first time personality types and sleep positions have been linked.

According to Dr. Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, in the 1940s, there was an article by a psychiatrist who claimed side-sleepers lacked moral fiber. The article prompted Idzikowski's decision to research whether there was any link between personality traits and sleep position, he told HuffPost in an email.

Idzikowski surveyed 1,004 British subjects about their preferred sleeping positions and asked them to check boxes with adjectives they felt described their personalities. Through factor analysis of the data, Idzikowski found an association between certain sleep positions and certain psychological traits.

The BBC reported on the results in 2003: Those who sleep in fetal position were said to be tough on the outside but sensitive on the inside, for example. "Log" sleepers were found to be easy-going and social.

"Yearners" were open, cynical and slow to make up their minds. "Free fallers" were outgoing but thin-skinned and did not like criticism.

Still, Idzikowski's research relied on self-evaluations, and he said that when the survey was conducted among a group of Southeast Asians, the archetypes no longer held up.

Philip Gehrman, a professor of psychiatry and a member of the Penn Sleep Center, expressed doubts over whether there's deep meaning behind how people sleep.

"You can't argue with the fact that they did in fact find a correlation between sleeping position and personality," Gehrman told HuffPost. "[But] the link between sleeping [position] and personality is unlikely to be anywhere near strong enough to make those kinds of statements."

So what does influence the way people sleep? According to Gehrman, it's simply personal preference.
"It's really just a matter [of whether] you are comfortable," he said.

According to Dr. Stuart Quan, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, it would be difficult for people to have their personalities tied to one sleep position, because most people move around in their sleep.

"They will toss and turn. They're naturally switching positions," Quan said. "People who say 'I only sleep on my side, my left side,' they tend to move."

On the other hand, correlations between sleep positions and quality of sleep can exist, according to Quan, but such ties are likely the result of pre-existing health conditions.

Sleep apnea, for example, a disorder in which people experience irregular breathing during sleep, can be made worse by sleeping on one's back, Quan said. Heartburn, too, is another condition that could be made worse by the position a person sleeps.

What can influence the quality of sleep, according to Quan, is what people do while they are awake.

"Nicotine is a stimulant. If you exercise right before you go to sleep, you tend to be hyped," Quan explained.

"Even if you get into an argument with your partner and then you try to go to sleep, those are obviously things that affect people trying to go to sleep."

Caffeine, medications and exposure to certain light -- like that of a laptop -- can all sabotage the potential for a good night's sleep. As a result, Quan discourages people from checking emails or watching television right before bed.

"We tell people the bedroom is for two things and they both start with S," said Quan. "The other things should be omitted and should be done somewhere else."

Can't sleep? Michael Decker, Michael Decker, Ph.D., an associate professor at Georgia State University and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, breaks down which old-fashioned remedies really work.

10 Tips to Start Living Now

Do you dream about being in a relationship, but your weight isn't ideal so you choose to hibernate? Do you long to make a career move, but are paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision? Do you want to have a family, but feel your life needs to be in "perfect" order first? Do you wish to visit a particular destination, but put it off because feel the trip is too indulgent? Now ask yourself this: If tomorrow were your last day on Earth, would you have any regrets? Are you living in the future and ignoring the present?

"Live for the moment" is a statement we have all heard, and it is usually followed by, "because you never know if it will be your last." When we hear this we usually pause, reflect and resonate with this statement. We might even vow to change a certain behavior or act on a particular goal, but usually this is short-lived and we resort to our old habits, fears and motivations. Then we feel stuck and full of regrets. But why?

We live in a world with to-do lists, goals that may not be our own and responsibilities that may outweigh our wants and needs. Oftentimes, we are taking care of others before we even acknowledge our own desires. To make matters worse, fear tends to rise to the forefront and it may present itself as the "rational" decision, when instead it is just the safe choice. You may want to leave your job, but fear tells you it is not the reasonable choice. The key is to drown out the negativity and strike a balance between the "shoulds" and the wants. It is one thing to be a responsible person, and another to be living your life for someone else entirely or waiting for the perfect set of circumstances for your life to truly begin.

I have a holistic health practice, and I work with clients on their physical and emotional health. I have a client who has an incredible heart and many gifts, but she was unable to recognize them or even utilize them. She was waiting for marriage for her life to begin and as a result, she was not nurturing her gifts -- working with children and art. She ignored her creative side and her giving nature and instead made dating and husband-hunting her priority. She had a preconceived notion that her career would not be financially lucrative, and she needed a partner to share the burden. As a result, her career was on hold, she was meeting the wrong men, her health was suffering and her spirit was empty. We worked for several months on recapturing her passion and taking action steps to live in the now. She went back to school for art therapy and guess whom she met there? Her husband.

Many times we don't believe that it is possible to have our dream life, or we feel we don't deserve it. We make plans, but we rarely take action today. We even talk ourselves out of our vision because it seems easier to coast along a stream rather than risk a potential current.

But living in the future does not ensure a happy life today. Too often, we spend time planning our goals and we forget to be happy now. As a result, we save all of our joy for a day in the future that is not yet guaranteed.

When you think about your wish list for your life, are you living it now? Does everything have to happen in a particular order? Are you holding onto a certain set of beliefs that no longer suit you? What messages are you sending out into the universe -- are you asking for something, but then finding reasons why it shouldn't happen now?

Vow to begin today with no regrets. Commit to showing the world why you are here. Promise to live with passion. Spread your wings, stretch your spirit and learn to soar. After all, tomorrow is a present to be lived today.

American Couples Having Trouble Sleeping: Survey

In theory, sleeping next to a warm body can provide feelings of comfort, safety and security. But in practice, maybe one bed partner is a snorer, or a couple can't agree on the temperature of the bedroom or one sleeper is always hogging the covers
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In fact, one in four people say they sleep better alone than in bed with their partner, according to a recent survey from the Better Sleep Council.

The survey was conducted in September, and asked more than 500 Americans age 18 or older and in a committed relationship how -- and how well -- they slept.

Most of the survey respondents, 85 percent, reported at least some trouble sleeping, including a partner who tosses and turns or snores, a bedroom that is too hot or too cold or an uncomfortable mattress. But women were found to be more sensitive to their sleep surroundings than men, with only 12 percent saying they have no trouble sleeping, compared with 20 percent of men who said the same.

So what's a bed-sharing couple to do? If snoring is the big problem, avoiding alcohol before bed and having the offending partner sleep on his or her side might help. Couples who argue over the thermostat might try each using their own blankets. Others might try out sleeping in separate beds or bedrooms.

Healthy Aging: 4 Things You Should Do

Everyone knows by now that eating right, exercising, and shunning smoking and other bad habits increases our chances of having a long and healthy life.

If you're hitting some -- but only some -- of these goals, it's better than nothing. But according to a new study, you're likely missing out on the full benefits that come with living a healthy lifestyle across the board.

In the study, which included 5,100 middle-aged British civil servants, those who engaged in four key behaviors -- not smoking, moderate drinking, exercising regularly, and eating fruits and vegetables daily -- had triple the odds of avoiding disability, chronic disease, or mental health problems over a 16-year period, when compared with people who practiced none of these behaviors.

Each of the four behaviors, practiced on their own, increased the odds of what the researchers termed "successful aging" by 30 percent to 50 percent. When practiced together, however, the behaviors seemed to produce a compound benefit greater than the sum of its parts.

"Individual healthy behaviors are moderately associated with successful aging, but their combined impact is quite substantial," says lead author Séverine Sabia, Ph.D., an epidemiology and public health researcher at University College London, in the UK. "Multiple healthy behaviors appear to increase the chance of reaching old age disease-free and fully functional."

The findings suggest that following a healthy lifestyle is a lot like collecting compound interest on a loan or investment, says Richard Birkel, Ph.D., senior vice president of health at the National Council on Aging, in Washington, D.C.

"By treating our bodies with care and avoiding harmful substances over a long period of time, the health effects are compounded," Birkel says. "Over time, because we are free of disability and illness and have more energy, we are able to live more fully and take on more challenges. ... There seems to be a virtuous chain reaction in which small positives lead to a critical mass of health and well-being."

The idea that healthy behaviors can amplify each other might seem like common sense. (If you exercise daily but eat only fast food, for instance, you're probably not getting maximal results.) But the new research is noteworthy for its scope and its attempt to quantify the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

The study is among the first of its kind to examine the outcomes associated with combinations of behaviors in midlife, rather than specific health measures (such as body mass index) that reflect those behaviors, says S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., a professor of public health at the Center on Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

What's more, the outcomes used in the study were unusually comprehensive. Sabia and her colleagues defined successful aging using five separate dimensions of health: cognitive, mental, physical, respiratory, and cardiovascular. This is a "real strength," Birkel says.

A holistic measure like successful aging "defines a state of being, rather than a set of isolated health outcomes," Birkel adds. "This is, of course, the status we all aspire to as we age -- not just absence of disease or chronic conditions, but having good mental health and being independent and active."

The study, which was published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, did have some important limitations. For one, it was an observational study, meaning it shows an association and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the various health behaviors and outcomes.

And given that some of the participants were only 60 years old at the conclusion of the study, it's hard to know whether the findings -- especially those regarding mental functioning -- will remain steady with time, says Clinton Wright, M.D., a neurologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
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Still, says Birkel, the findings are "very good and reassuring news," and make a strong argument for adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors no matter how old you are.

This article originally appeared on Health.com.

Beans Could Help Control Blood Pressure, Reduce Heart Risks For Diabetes Patients: Study 

Beans really may be a magical fruit -- a new study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine shows that for Type 2 diabetes patients, the more legumes you eat, the better your glycemic control and the lower your risk of coronary heart disease.

"We know from our previous research that foods low on the glycemic index scale are helpful in lowering blood glucose levels," study researcher Dr. David Jenkins, director of the St. Michael's Hospital's Risk Factor Modification Centre, said in a statement. "But this is the first study of its kind to specially look at legumes' effect on cardiovascular risk factors and find they also have a blood pressure lowering effect in diabetic patients."

The study was funded by the Agricultural Bioproducts Innovation Program, via the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and the Pulse Research Network (PURENet). The authors have also worked for, been part of, or received grants in the past from a number of agriculture groups and food companies.

Researchers found specifically that eating about a cup a day of legumes (190 grams) -- which include beans, peas and lentils -- is linked with lower blood pressure levels, which is important because "blood pressure is a big contributor to renal failure in these patients," Jenkins said in the statement.

The study included 121 people with Type 2 diabetes, whose measurements -- including blood pressure, blood fat, blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C levels (which determines diabetes control) -- were taken at the start of the study. Then, for three months, some of the participants ate a low-glycemic index diet, as well as one cup more per day of legumes, while others ate a healthy diet with whole-wheat foods to boost their intake of insoluble fiber.

Then, the participants' measurements were taken again at the end of the study period. While the whole-wheat group experienced benefits in blood fat, blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C levels, the legume group experienced benefits in all these groups plus blood pressure.

Legumes are considered very low-glycemic foods. The glycemic index, which was developed by Jenkins, is used to determine the level at which a food will spike blood sugar levels. For example, foods like white bread are high on the glycemic index scale because they cause blood sugar levels to rise; apples and legumes are low on the scale because they tend to stabilize levels.

However, in a related commentary published in the same journal, Marion J. Franz of Nutrition Concepts by Franz Inc. noted that the role of a low-glycemic index on diabetes has been controversial, with some recent studies showing that there may not be a difference in low-glycemic index and high-glycemic index diets in hemoglobin A1C levels.
However, Franz noted, legumes are known to be part of a healthy diet -- the question is just whether legumes seem to have this benefit for diabetes patients because of its low glycemic index status, or because legumes are high in soluble fiber.

Franz wrote:

Nutrition therapy for DM is effective. However, just as there is no 1 medication or insulin regimen appropriate for all persons with DM, there is no 1 nutrition therapy intervention. A variety of nutrition therapy interventions have been shown to be effective. Nutrition education and counseling must be sensitive to the personal needs and cultural preferences of individuals and their ability to make and sustain lifestyle changes.

These findings come out at the same time as a new study in the journal Circulation, showing that more adults in the U.S. are getting their blood pressure levels under control -- 47 percent in 2010, compared with 29 percent a decade ago.

 

What's Your Health Turnoff?

When it comes to standards of health, there are the by-the-book rules, like eating enough servings of fruits and veggies and shooting for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity five times a week.
Then, there are the rules we adopt as our own, like how it's absolutely imperative to brush your teeth immediately after waking up or that clean hands include manicured fingernails.

Sure, not everyone has the same standards of "health," as one Twitter follower reminded us. But that's what's so fun about sharing our rules. When it comes to dating, one person's deal breaker could be another person's biggest turn on.

For some of us, a health turnoff could be smoking or hitting the vending machine too often. For others, it's a volatile temper or eating meat -- or not eating meat! We put together a list of our biggest health turnoffs, and asked our Twitter followers and Facebook fans to weigh in
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Fall Coffee Drinks: Which Is Best? Calories, Nutrition And More

As New York Magazine recently proclaimed, pumpkin is the new bacon. The newly ubiquitous flavoring is a popular option for the lineup of fall seasonal drinks at national coffeehouses like Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Tim Horton's.

But whether it's a pumpkin latte or a spiced apple cider, these festive drinks can hide fat, sugar and calories amidst the evocative, limited-time flavors. We've listed a few of the most common offenders, all size medium unless otherwise noted, with more sugar than candy bars and enough fat to make a serious dent in your daily allowance.

To combat calorie-laden drinks, the CDC recommends choosing the smallest size, replacing whole milk with skim where appropriate and forgoing the whipped cream. Unfortunately, they recommend skipping flavor syrups (how your pumpkin mocha latte is created) altogether.

Not ready to let go of fall's fab flavors? At least know what you're getting yourself into: