Study: Women who sleep better are more ambitious

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

Women are more ambitious if they sleep better, according to a new study.

Sleep quality was found to impact women's moods and views on career advancement but not men’s.

In a two-week survey researchers at Washington State University (WSU) asked 135 full-time employees to note how well they slept and the quality of their mood.

Later in the day, the group was asked how they felt about striving for higher status and more responsibility and at work, taking over 2,200 observations overall.

Both men and women had good and bad night's sleep during the study and there was no gender split in how well they slept.

The team suggested one reason for the results could be that women are more emotionally reactive and less emotionally regulating than men.

In addition, they said stereotypes of men having higher ambitions than women likely added more pressure for men to scale the corporate ladder.

As a result, they speculated poor sleep quality would be less likely to deter them from their work aspirations.

Writing in the journal Sex Roles Professor Leah Sheppard, from WSU's Carson College of Business, said the research could prompt women to take some practical steps to improve their work aspirations.

The lead author suggested practicing meditation, setting better boundaries with work hours, or getting better sleep.

She said: "When women are getting a good night's sleep and their mood is boosted, they are more likely to be oriented in their daily intentions toward achieving status and responsibility at work.

“If their sleep is poor and reduces their positive mood, then we saw that they were less oriented toward those goals.”

“It’s important to be able to connect aspirations to something happening outside the work environment that is controllable.

“There are lots of things that anyone can do to have a better night's sleep and regulate mood in general.”