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🛌 Personality X Insomnia

Ever not been able to sleep because of something embarrassing you did when you were 12?

A study out of the University of São Paulo has found that high levels of neuroticism were far more common in people with insomnia, while those with higher openness to experience were less likely to struggle with sleep.

What stood out:

• Neuroticism showed the strongest link with insomnia
  

• 61.7% of insomniacs had high neuroticism, compared to 32% of those without sleep issues
  

• Anxiety seems to be the thing that connects neuroticism to poor sleep
  

• Low openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were more common in those with insomnia
  

• Extroversion didn’t seem to make a difference

These findings suggest that sleep problems aren’t always just about caffeine, screens, or bad routines. Emotional patterns and personality traits matter too. CBT-I is still the go-to treatment, but the study makes a case for more personalised approaches that take anxiety and personality into account.

Why it matters:
Sleep therapy might work better when it also helps people manage the emotional weight they carry. Not everyone needs the same approach, especially when personality plays a part.

Read the full study here 👈

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🧠 Low mood = wandering minds

New research from Queen’s University Belfast found that kids aged 8 to 12 who reported feeling low in mood were much more likely to have wandering thoughts during the day, especially ones that drifted back to the past.

What the study found:

• Most off-task thoughts were past-oriented, not daydreams about the future
  

• On average, kids were off-task around 23% of the time
  

• Those feeling down drifted more often and more deeply
  

• Worry was tied to future-focused thoughts, though more research is needed

Lead researcher Dr Agnieszka Graham believes this link between mood and attention has important implications for classrooms. When kids feel low, their minds are more likely to spiral backward, making it harder to stay focused on tasks.

Why it matters:
We may surmise that a child’s ability to focus is just down to discipline or attention span, but this study could show that how they feel plays a huge role. Supporting their mood could be one of the simplest ways to help them stay present and engaged.

Read the full study here 👈

🧘 Different mindfulness techniques for different anxieties

Mindfulness is often treated like a one-size-fits-all solution, but new research suggests the type of practice matters. A paper from Washington University in St. Louis outlines how different meditation styles support different kinds of anxiety.

What the research found:

• People who worry chronically may benefit more from focused attention meditation
  

• Those with hypervigilance and physical anxiety symptoms may respond better to open monitoring
  

• Mindfulness strengthens brain regions involved in attention and self-regulation
  

• Anxiety interrupts cognitive control, while mindfulness restores it
  

• Neuroimaging confirms that mindfulness reshapes emotional and goal-directed brain activity

By targeting the specific way anxiety shows up, mindfulness becomes a flexible, evidence-backed way to support mental clarity and calm.

Why it matters:
Matching the right type of mindfulness to the right kind of anxiety could make the practice more effective and easier to stick with. 

Just think, you wouldn’t go to a dentist for a mole on your behind. Same same but different.

Read the full study here 👈

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See you in the next one,

Dan from Cognitive Crumbs