Women who have higher quality sleep are more likely to be ambitious, a new study has found.

According to a two-week survey by researchers at Washington State University (WSU), sleep quality can have a major impact on women’s mood and views on career progression. However, the same was not true for men.

For the survey, which was published in the journal Sex Roles, the researchers asked 135 full-time employees to note how well they slept and the quality of their mood.

Later the same day, the group was asked about how they felt about taking on more responsibilities at work and being ambitious in the workplace.

While there was no clear gender split in terms of who slept better, the results showed that women were more severely impacted by a poor night’s sleep in terms of ambition.

The researchers suggested that one reason for the findings could be that women are more emotionally reactive than men.

Lead author Leah Sheppard explained that the results could prompt women to impose better workplace boundaries or improve their sleep.

“When women are getting a good night’s sleep and their mood is boosted, they are more likely to be oriented in their daily intentions toward achieving status and responsibility at work,” she said.

“If their sleep is poor and reduces their positive mood, then we saw that they were less oriented toward those goals.

“It’s important to be able to connect aspirations to something happening outside the work environment that is controllable.

“There are lots of things that anyone can do to have a better night’s sleep and regulate mood in general.”