“Sleep well, Mister President” – The political psychology of sleep

In the present research, the relationship between political ideology and sleep disorder symptoms and the extent to which this relationship is mediated by boundaries in the mind (Hartmann, 1991) are investigated in a sample of Flemish voters (N = 255). Our results revealed a positive association between right-wing ideology and Insomnia-related symptoms, whereas Narcoleptic-related symptoms bore out a negative relationship. Moreover, the former relationship dissipated when taking into account demographic variables, but the relationship with Narcolepsy-related symptoms remained significant. Boundaries in the mind mediated the relationships between ideology and narcolepsy-related symptoms. It is concluded that the present results do not corroborate the hypothesis that right-wing adherents would typically suffer from sleeping problems that might be suggestive of emotional disturbances.