Chronobiology internationalMar 13, 2023

Comparing Morning Mood and Sleep Grogginess and How They Are Measured

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Mar 31, 2026

Abstract

A sample of 453 students revealed seven distinct factors related to sleep inertia and morningness-eveningness.

Morning Affect (MA) is conceptually linked to sleep inertia (SI), indicating a transitional state between sleep and wakefulness.
Exploratory factor analysis identified seven factors, including Cognitive, Emotional, and Physiological SI, along with responses to SI and duration of SI.
The analysis showed that MA may be better understood as a general measure of sleep inertia rather than just a preference for morningness or eveningness.
The findings could assist in the development and refinement of questionnaires assessing circadian functioning.

Simplified

The construct of Morning Affect (MA; alertness upon awakening/time required to feel fully awake) emerged from exploratory factor analysis of morningness-eveningness questionnaires, and while it has been equated with morningness-eveningness preference it has much conceptual overlap with sleep inertia (SI; the transitional state between sleep and being fully awake). The current study compared questionnaire measures of these constructs to help clarify their inter-relationships. A volunteer sample of 453 students at an English-medium university in China completed an online survey including the Sleep Inertia Questionnaire (SIQ), the Morningness-Eveningness-Stability-Scale-improved (MESSi), with subscales for MA, Eveningness, and Distinctness (amplitude of diurnal variation), and the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ). Measures of depression, sleep quality, mindfulness, and personality were also included. Exploratory factor analysis of the SIQ, MESSi, and rMEQ items revealed seven factors: Cognitive, Emotional, and Physiological SI, Responses to SI (including one MA item), and Duration of SI (one SIQ item, 3/5 MA items, and one rMEQ item); Morningness-Eveningness (MESSi Eveningness items, plus 3/5 rMEQ items); Distinctness (3/5 MESSi items). These results suggest that Morning Affect may be better characterised as a general measure of sleep inertia, and may contribute to ongoing development/refinement of questionnaire measures of circadian functioning.

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Comparing Morning Mood and Sleep Grogginess and How They Are Measured

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