According to the United States Centers for Disease Control, inadequate sleep is associated with a host of physical and mental ailments, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Perhaps for that reason, WebMD.com distributed a posting entitled, “What Your Sleep Position Says About You.” The post reported the following "research" relating body position to personality:
·
Five percent of the
population prefer to sleep on their backs with arms close to their heads. They frequently are good listeners and
attention-seeking.
·
Eight percent of the
population prefer to sleep with arms down and close to the body. They tend to be quiet, keep to themselves,
and expect a lot from themselves and others.
·
Fifteen percent of the
population prefer to sleep on their side with arms down. There is research that finds a correlation
with sociability and an, easygoing, and trusting demeanor.
·
Forty percent of the
population prefer to sleep in the fetal position. Men are half as likely as women to prefer
this. Those preferring this position tend to be warm, friendly, and sensitive[pm1] , but to have protective shells surrounding them.
Before I ask you my
central questions, think about this: The
WebMD site allegedly receives 75 million visitors per month. https://www.webmd.com/corporate/press-center-fact-sheet#1. How’s
that for what marketers refer to as the influence (manipulation) strategy called
“social proof?” Please consider what you
believe about the reliability and validity of the information in the blog presented
thus far. Think about that on your own
before continuing to read.
Now, what do you think
about the WebMD posting about sleep position?
Do you believe the WebMD percentages? Do you believe that people sleep in the same
position every night and all night? Since
elements of personality can change (such as how some men become more mellow
with age and some women, more assertive), will their personality changes
“cause” sleep position changes, or vice versa? Do you accept that the posting said absolutely
nothing about the influence of physiological factors? Do you accept that the posting said nothing
about the sleep environment?
I could go on and on
with this, but I’ll spare you. My point is that you would do well to begin
every health and science information-seeking activity by reminding yourself
that too much of popularly promoted health and science is powered by mercenary and
political motives. At minimum –
presumably as in the case of the WebMD sleep positions posting – a primary
consideration is acquiring the most site hits to prove its monetary value
rather than to provide important, reliable, and valid information.
Every time you encounter
some new health and/or science information and instantly become enamored with
it, I think you should pause. Ask: Is
what I just discovered really just entertainment or social manipulation
masquerading as science? Also, ask yourself whether you have been too quick
uncritically to accept something consistent with what you already had
believed. And ask yourself whether you
have been too quick uncritically to accept it because it’s novel and that telling
people about it could make you sound clever.
If you become more self-critical in these ways, you will be a better health
and science consumer and more resistant to mercenary and politically-inspired health
and science propaganda.
Like almost everyone, I
would be comforted to believe that physical and mental health can be reduced to
one or two simple factors.
Unfortunately, they cannot. So, I
have conditioned myself to trudge along, being skeptical and investigating even
the most “obvious” health and science information that media and other
institutions promulgate. Human physical and mental health always depend on
multiple interacting forces. That should
not surprise anyone.
