Get a memory boost
We’d all admit to making mistakes when tired, but the impact can be severe. In memory-performance tests at Michigan State University, subjects who were sleep-deprived showed a 15% failure rate when re-tested the following morning, whereas a well-rested group exhibited a failure rate of just 1%.
Be more sociable
Even been told you got out of the wrong side of bed? A lack of sleep is to blame for your bad mood. Research from the University of California found that the brains of sleep-deprived subjects display heightened activity in areas that deal with perceived threats from other people, with a simultaneous shutdown in areas that encourage social interaction.
Stay calm
Not getting enough sleep makes you tired, sure, but research proves it also makes you angrier. Subjects who were deprived of two to four hours of sleep for two consecutive nights reacted far more angrily to stressful situations than those who got the recommended seven hours of sleep, according to the Journal Of Experimental Psychology.
Avoid weight gain
You’ll know from experience that a night short of sleep can affect your hunger levels the following day, and that’s why too little sleep too often is linked to rapid weight gain. New research in the Science Advances journal found that a lack of sleep caused 148 significant changes in biological pathways and gene expression, which resulted in increased fat storage.