Why do some people fall for conspiracy theories while others don’t? Research has typically focused on political beliefs and personality traits, but scientists have uncovered a surprising everyday factor that might be making us more susceptible to conspiracy thinking: not getting enough sleep.
Sleeping poorly is linked to no shortage of mental health problems, and now research shows it might fuel belief in conspiracy theories too. (© highwaystarz – stock.adobe.com)New research from the University of Nottingham, published in the Journal of Health Psychology, reveals that people who sleep poorly are likelier to believe conspiracy theories, especially after seeing conspiracy content. This link exists both for people with ordinary sleep problems and those with clinical insomnia, suggesting our sleep habits might affect how we process information.
Conspiracy theories increasingly affect public health decisions like vaccine uptake and our response to climate change. Figuring out why people believe these theories has become critically important.
The Research: Poor Sleep and Conspiracy Beliefs
Dr. Daniel Jolley and his team ran two studies with over 1,100 participants to see how sleep affects our thinking and mental state.
“We know a lot about the cognitive biases, social influences, and personal traits that explain why people believe in conspiracy theories. However, previous research has typically overlooked how sleep, especially poor-quality sleep, may impact conspiracy beliefs,” Jolley tells StudyFinds. “We also wanted to explore the potential mechanisms behind this connection.”
The team found that when we don’t sleep well, we get irritable and our thinking becomes fuzzy. This mental fog seems to make conspiracy theories—stories about secret plots behind major events—more convincing than they otherwise would be.
In their first experiment with 540 people, the researchers measured sleep quality and then randomly showed participants either a conspiracy theory about the 2019 Notre Dame Cathedral fire or a non-conspiracy explanation. Those who reported poor sleep and read the conspiracy version were much more prone to believing conspiracy theories about the fire compared to well-rested people. This effect was strongest in participants with terrible sleep.
The second study with 575 participants dug into the psychological reasons for this connection. Researchers measured their levels of anxiety, anger, depression, and paranoia. They also assessed their conspiracy mentality (a general tendency toward conspiratorial thinking) and belief in specific conspiracy theories.
Depression consistently linked poor sleep to conspiracy beliefs, while anger and paranoia showed some connection but less consistently.
This creates what the researchers call a “sleep cycle of conspiracy beliefs”—a worrying feedback loop where bad sleep hurts your mental health, making you more vulnerable to conspiracy theories, which might then make your sleep and mental health even worse.
Around 74% of people reported worse sleep quality over a recent 12-month period, according to polling data mentioned in the study. Unlike clinical insomnia (affecting 10-20% of people), garden-variety poor sleep is extremely common yet often dismissed as normal in our busy culture. This widespread sleep deprivation could be quietly feeding the spread of conspiracy theories across society.
The Psychology Behind the Connection
The link between sleep and conspiracy thinking works mainly through depression. When sleep suffers, so does our emotional balance, potentially leading to depressive feelings. For someone feeling low, conspiracy theories can serve as a coping mechanism—projecting bad intentions onto others that match their negative emotional state.
The paper notes that for people experiencing depression, conspiracy theories might align better with their worldview, making a conspiracy-filled world feel more coherent than alternative explanations.
Curiously, anxiety—often linked to both sleep problems and conspiracy beliefs in previous studies—didn’t emerge as a significant factor in this research. This unexpected finding shows how complex the relationship between sleep, emotions, and conspiracy thinking really is.
Source: https://studyfinds.org/poor-sleep-conspiracy-theories/
