Scientists Found 16 Categories Of Sleeper, Which One Are You?

What type of sleeper are you? Scientists have discovered 16 types of sleeper after they have studied the activity tracker data for over 100,000 people.

How was the study conducted?

The scientists grouped people ranging from those who sleep all the way through the night and do not nap in the day, to those who suffer significant periods of wakefulness during the night. Out of this data, 7 types of insomnia were classified, which the researchers believed offered great insights.

For instance, insomnia with short sleep duration was associated with impaired neurocognitive functioning, while insomnia with average sleep duration was linked to anxious-ruminative profiles.

The activity tracker also showed how the sleep patters of those who worked in shifts affected because their working hours switched. Their circadian rhythms were out of sync. This is the natural process that regulates sleep-wake-cycle. When this is out of sync, it may lead to shorter, less good-quality sleep.

What are the 16 types of distinct sleep categories?

As per the research which based its data from smart wristbands used by the United Kingdom Biobank, there were 16 categories of sleep, distributed into 6 broad categories.

Those that fall in the first category experience insomnia with long sleep duration and 'midawake', which is when you wakeup in middle of the night. Then there is a spectrum of people who sleep all the way through the nights without taking naps in the day. Cluster 2 and 4 are further split into a's and b's, which indicates sleep cycle of shift workers.

Cluster:

1: Insomnia with long sleep duration and midawake

2a: Irregular sleep schedule

2b: Fragmented sleep with short sleep duration

3a: Insomnia with normal sleep duration

3b: Insomnia with short sleep duration

4a: Longer 24 h periodic sleep/wake cycle

4b: Major

5: Sleep without day-time sleep window

Then comes clusters 3b and 4b, which are further split into 8 subcategories, which makes it the total of 16 categories of sleepers.

3b-1 is a bigger cluster and includes people who sleep deeply but cannot fall asleep easily once they are woken up. 3b-2 includes short-duration sleepers who show a mix of short wake-ups and some longer hours spent staring at the ceilings. While 4b-1, another large cluster is for the long sleepers and 4b-2 is all the morning people, and 4b-6 are all the night people.

Cluster:

3b-1: Insomnia with short sleep duration and long term midawake

3b-2: Insomnia with short sleep duration and long and short term midawake

4b-1: Long sleeper

4b-2: Morning person

4b-3: Shorter 24 h periodic sleep/wake cycle

4b-4: Insomnia with short sleep duration and short term midawake

4b-5: Insomnia with normal sleep duration and long term midawake with less fragmented sleep

4b-6: Night person

Scientists have pointed that those in the 4b-4 and 4b-5 categories are defined as 'preinsomnia', as both the clusters show normal wake-up duration in the middle of the night, but the former cluster wake and fall asleep repeatedly and frequently.