Your sleeping secrets: How personality traits are revealed by the body's position in bed

Do you sleep like a log? Or are you more of a yearner, a freefaller or a foetal?

The position you choose while sleeping reveals a startling amount about your personality, according to body language expert Robert Phipps.

Mr Phipps has identified four positions and says the foetal – most favoured by worriers – is by far the most common.

Sleeping like a log: More than half of us in the UK sleep curled up in the foetal position, left, suggesting we are a nation of worriers, while the second most common position is the log, right, which indicates a rigid personality

More than half of us (58 per cent) adopt it and sleep with knees up and head down.

The more we curl up, the more comfort we’re seeking, he says. The second most common position is the log (28 per cent).

A straight body, with arms and legs by the side, apparently indicates stubbornness and they can wake up stiffer than when they went to sleep, says Mr Phipps.

The 25 per cent of us that are a yearner – arms stretched out in front – are either chasing a dream or being chased.

Yearners are their own worst critics says Mr Phipps, always expecting great results. They wake up eager to face the challenges of the day.

Freefallers – face down, arms outstretched – make up 17 per cent and feel they have little control over their life.

Physically this is the least comfortable position.

Mr Phipps’s survey asked people to record their most common sleeping positions, with some naming more than one.

He said: ‘A good night’s sleep sets you up for the following day and our sleeping positions can determine how we feel when we wake.’

Nap-time: 'Yearners' sleep with their arms outstreched, left, while 'freefallers' sleep on their stomachs with their arms at right-angles, right