Women's Health and Sleep

What Really Makes Women Happy? Sleep!

A study in this issue of Science, reported that sleep quality has a greater influence on the ability to enjoy one's day than household income and even marital status. Researchers used the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) to analyze how 909 women actually spend their time and how they experience their various activities. DRM works by having participants reconstruct their activities and experiences of the preceding day in a way that reduces the recall biases. They found that positive affect and enjoyment are strongly influenced by temperament and character and that general circumstances, like income and education, had little impact on the enjoyment of a regular day.

Dr. Norbert Schwarz, professor of psychology at University of Michigan and author of the study explained, "The study showed that an extra hour of sleep had more of an impact on how the participants felt throughout the day than earning more money a year."