Our sleep shows how risk-seeking we are

(© Image: Unsplash) - Each person has their own individual sleep profile which can be identified by the electrical brain activity during sleep. Researchers at the University of Bern have now demonstrated that the brain waves during periods of deep sleep in a specific area of the brain can be used to determine the extent of an individual's propensity for risk during their everyday life. Each day, we make countless decisions in which we take different risks - in road traffic, when buying shares or in our sexual behavior, for example. The propensity for risk varies from one individual to the next. Researchers led by Daria Knoch, Professor of Social Neuroscience at the University of Bern, have demonstrated that clues in the brain concerning an individual's propensity for risk can be gathered as they sleep: "The fewer slow waves an individual has over their right prefrontal cortex during deep sleep, the greater their propensity for risk. Among other functions, this region of the brain is important to control one's own impulses," explains the neuroscientist. The results have recently been published in the journal "NeuroImage." - High data density and sleep investigation at participant's home.