People who enjoy socialising and partying often get too little sleep. Now a new study suggests that they might suffer worse effects from sleep deprivation than less social partygoers.

A new study, Socializing, Personality and the Effects of Sleep Deprivation, looked at the effect of sleep deprivation following exposure to "socially enriched" or "socially impoverished" environments. The researchers further categorised participants as either extrovert or introvert. During the period of sleep deprivation the volunteers were tested using the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) tst to assess their responses.

The study found that following social enrichment the extraverts performed worse on the PVT tests than the introverts. The researchers conclude:

The effect of social exposure on vulnerability or resiliency to sleep deprivation was modulated by introversion and extraversion. Extraverts exposed to social environments were more vulnerable to subsequent sleep deprivation than were introverts.