How Weird Is Your Sleep?

weirdly accurate.

How Weird Is Your Sleep?

How weird is my sleep?

Probably a little weird, and in good company. In a 2010 telephone survey of 1,000 randomly chosen Norwegian adults, Bjorvatn and colleagues found that two in three had talked in their sleep, one in five had sleepwalked, and about 12% had done five or more of the eleven strange things they asked about. This sleep quirks test asks you fourteen questions like these and shows where you stand.

The fourteen questions follow one night in order: falling asleep, deep sleep, dreams and waking up. For each you answer never, yes at some point, or lately too, meaning at least once in the last three months, the same window the Norwegian survey used. Ten questions come from that survey; sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, the phantom bang (exploding head syndrome) and the hypnic jerk use separate published studies. Every yes puts a star in the window of a 3D bedroom. In the morning you get your sleep type, your rarest one, and your count of the survey’s ten next to the average adult’s of about 2.4.

It is not a diagnosis or a sleep disorder test. Most of these things are harmless, and many you only know about if someone has seen you, so “never” means “not that you know of”. The figures come from different groups asked in different ways, so treat them as a rough guide. A few answers do deserve a doctor’s ear, such as acting out dreams more than once or getting hurt in your sleep, and whenever yours include one, the result sheet says so plainly.

What the test asks

One thing: which of fourteen strange things you have done in your sleep, and how common each one is.

The task

  • 14 questions in the order of one night, in four parts: falling asleep, deep sleep, dreams, waking up
  • Three answers each: never, yes at some point, or lately too (at least once in the last 3 months); tap a button or press 1, 2 or 3
  • After each answer you see how common it is among adults, from the Norwegian survey or another named study
  • Every yes sends a star from a dream bubble into the round window of a 3D bedroom, brighter the rarer it is, while the sky outside turns from night to dawn

Your result

  • Your sleep type: Stone Sleeper, Jumpy Sleeper, Midnight Broadcaster, Night Wanderer, Dream Director or Hyperactive Sleeper; playful names, not diagnoses
  • Your count of the survey’s ten next to the average adult’s of about 2.4; five or more puts you among the busiest 12% of adults
  • Your rarest one, as roughly 1 in how many adults
  • A thing-by-thing sheet with every figure and its source, why these things happen, and anything in your answers worth telling a doctor
  • A share card and a challenge link that carry only your number of stars and your type, never which things they were

Before you start

  • About two minutes; free, no sign-up
  • Answer from your whole life; if someone told you that you did it, it counts
  • Works on a phone or a computer in a browser with 3D (WebGL) switched on
  • Sound is optional: soft synthesised sounds, no background music, with a mute button
  • Your answers stay on your device

Questions about strange sleep

Is this test free? Do I need to sign up to see my result?

Yes, it’s free, and there’s nothing to sign up for: no account, no email, no payment. Your result appears on this page the moment you finish, and you can share it or play again straight away.

How do I know if my sleep is weird?

Compare your nights with a random sample of adults, not with the people around you. Adding up the rates in Bjorvatn and colleagues’ 2010 survey of 1,000 Norwegian adults gives the average adult about 2.4 of the ten things this test borrows from it, and about 12% had done five or more of the survey’s eleven. The How Weird Is Your Sleep test shows, after each answer, how common it is.

How accurate is the sleep quirks test? Where do the numbers come from?

Every figure is published, but they come from different studies, so read them as a rough guide. Ten questions use Bjorvatn and colleagues’ 2010 telephone survey, which asked one question per item and whose authors warn of a low response rate. Sleep paralysis comes from Sharpless and Barber’s 2011 review of 35 studies, lucid dreaming from Saunders and colleagues’ 2016 meta-analysis of 34 studies, the phantom bang from Denis and colleagues’ 2019 self-selected online sample of 1,683 people, and the hypnic jerk from the 60–70% usually cited from the International Classification of Sleep Disorders.

What are the most common strange things people do in their sleep?

Sleep talking and nightmares. In Bjorvatn and colleagues’ 2010 Norwegian survey, 66.8% of adults had talked in their sleep and 66.2% had had a nightmare. The jolt as you drift off, a hypnic jerk, is usually put at 60–70% of people, and Saunders and colleagues’ 2016 meta-analysis found that 55% have had at least one lucid dream. At the rare end, 4.5% of the Norwegian adults had eaten in their sleep and 4.3% had hurt themselves asleep.

What are the six sleep types, and which one am I?

The How Weird Is Your Sleep test gives you one of six playful sleep types from your answers. No yeses makes you a Stone Sleeper. Five or more of the Norwegian survey’s ten, or nine or more of all fourteen, makes you a Hyperactive Sleeper. Otherwise your type is where most of your yeses fall, with rarer things counting for more: the edge of sleep (Jumpy Sleeper), your voice (Midnight Broadcaster), your body (Night Wanderer) or your dreams (Dream Director). The names are for fun, not diagnoses.

How common is sleep paralysis?

About 7.6% of the general population have had at least one episode, according to Sharpless and Barber’s 2011 review of 35 studies covering 36,533 people; among students the figure was 28.3%. Sleep paralysis is usually harmless and more likely after short or irregular sleep. If it comes with sudden sleep attacks or sudden muscle weakness during the day, tell a doctor.

Is this a sleep disorder test? When should I see a doctor?

No. The How Weird Is Your Sleep test is not a medical test and cannot diagnose a sleep disorder; it only shows how common each thing is. Some answers are worth telling a doctor about: acting out dreams more than once, especially if it started after about age 50, because it can be REM sleep behaviour disorder; hurting yourself or someone else in your sleep; and, if recent, eating in your sleep, frequent or risky sleepwalking, frequent night terrors, or nightmares that wear you down. The CDC and sleepeducation.org are reliable places to start.

Where the numbers come from

Ten figures come from Bjorvatn et al.’s survey, which reports lifetime and last-3-months rates; the other four come from the studies below, which differ in who they asked and how. Average counts add up the published rates. “Five or more” is the only ranking the survey reports, so below five the test compares you with the average only. The site does not publish its own players’ data.