6 Signs You Need More Sleep

Need a reason to hit the snooze button a few more times? Sleep is as vital for survival as food, according to Dr. Mary Susan Esther, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). And chances are you're more likely to burn the midnight oil to finish all your work (and play) than you are to pass up dinner. But chronic lack of sleep can lead to a host of health problems such as high blood pressure, obesity, depression, irregular hormone production, a weakened immune system, memory lapses, constant irritability and decreased concentration and reaction times.

So are you spending enough quality time between the sheets asleep? See how many of the signs below describe you. Then decide if a sleep deficit is holding you back.

1. You're not hungry for lunch. A lack of sleep can make you constantly want to eat more, or persistently feel like you're not hungry. It throws off your internal clock resulting in abnormal feelings, which is why so many people lose or gain weight during periods of sleeplessness.

MensHealth.com: 8 Foods You Should Eat Every Day

2. You've looked at three other Web sites in the last 5 minutes and checked your email twice. No, you (probably) don't have Attention Deficit Disorder. Whether you're writing a quick email or solving chemical equations; a lack of sleep can make focusing seem impossible.

MensHealth.com: Sleep Better for More Energy

3. You can't remember where you put the car keys. Your brain needs sleep to refresh and regenerate. Without it, your short-term memory may be impaired which is why pulling an all-nighter rarely yields better results than getting quality shut-eye, according to Dr. Neil Kline, a sleep physician and representative of the American Sleep Association.

4. You can't carry on a conversation. Come Saturday night you may work a party like a pro, but as long as you're sleep-deficient, coming up with witty or even coherent one-liners is out of the question.

5. You're drowsy at the wheel. Your eyes may glaze over now and then when you're staring at the computer screen or stuck in an endless meeting, but if you struggle to stay awake behind the wheel or doing any task that puts your life at risk you're not just bored. You need more sleep.

Caffeinated drinks, blasting music, or rolling down the windows (in January) may arouse you briefly, but it won't keep you alert for long drives.

6. You feel sick and you never get sick. Your immune system repairs and strengthens while you sleep. So in addition to eating flu-fighting foods, log at least seven hours a night to stay healthy all season.

MensHealth.com: What Does Your Sleep Position Say About You?

Comments

[hemiram]

01:14 AM on 09/18/2010

I have had sleep issues my entire life, almost from day one. My mother had a meltdown about 6 months after I was born because I didn't sleep at night. I was up until about dawn, and then would want to sleep. She would try to keep me up all day, and that just made me really cranky, and I would sleep as soon as she turned her back, and be up all night. Once I was talking, I would ask my parents why people slept at night, and not the daytime, like I would have done if I was allowed to. I was sick all the time, until I started to go to college at night, and suddenly, I wasn't sick anymore, and I felt better than I ever had, because I was going to bed about 4-5AM, and getting up about 12-1PM. Any real deviation from it messes me up really badly. I don't know how many times I've fallen asleep in the middle of the day or early evening after several days of sleeping, or trying to sleep at the wrong times for whatever reasons. I fell asleep walking across the hall at work one day. I said I "tripped", but I had fallen asleep.
I quit trying to fight nature long ago, I don't even try to work a 9-5 job anymore, and even though I go to sleep at about the right time now, I can't seem to sleep long enough anymore.

[Bugs777Bunny]

06:43 AM on 09/19/2010

I also had such problem, but only once in a while. Months ago I've just thought of a trick of make myself sleep early again. Wanna know? I just make myself more busy in day time, do some work that requires my energy, avoid any day naps - this way makes me so sleepy that it's easy to sleep in the night.
Try it first on a day before holiday, like Saturdays. No harm trying.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:24 PM on 09/16/2010

Yawn. Okay. Off I go.

[ackezzy]

04:44 PM on 09/16/2010

yo is the link picture ironman?

[Gneirre]

04:20 PM on 09/15/2010

Signs from a mom:

1. You go to work with the cordless phone and actually try to call from it.
2. You tell your child to go into your bag and take out what they need for lunch money....and she's a teenager!!!!
3. You wonder if you could possibly get away with letting your 8 year old drive the car that morning.
4. You stupidly ask your husband to cook and he doesn't even know where the pots are.
5. The alarm clock now alerts you when to roll over.
6. You prop yourself in your cubicle with your back to everyone to make it look like you're working, but you are dead sleep.

[kapalabhati]

09:57 PM on 09/16/2010

How well does the 8 year old parallel park?

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

08:21 PM on 09/14/2010

#7 You're posting on Huffington Post at 2:00 a.m.

[santiago sherwood]

09:13 PM on 09/14/2010

#8 YOU CAN WATCH NICKELODEAN

[amd02148]

11:03 PM on 09/14/2010

# 9 or TV Land

[bynddrvn5]

07:53 PM on 09/14/2010

I honestly don't know anyone who isn't sleep deprived, and I know I am usually somewhere between sleep deprived and dangerously sleepy. I have fallen asleep on my laptop many times, but the worst I have seen was a woman who dozed off while she was giving a presentation at work.

[Bugs777Bunny]

11:10 PM on 09/15/2010

Ha!Ha!Ha! Dozing off while giving presentation! That's funny !

[shthar]

05:27 PM on 09/14/2010

The goal of life is to sleep in.

[SF TKF]

03:19 PM on 09/14/2010

If I could just get my neighbors' dogs to stop barking all night, I'd be fine. *sigh*

[shthar]

05:27 PM on 09/14/2010

Get a dog whistle. Blow it as hard as you can when they bark.

[Terrible Towel]

03:12 PM on 09/15/2010

that's a really great idea.

[dartagnan]

05:54 PM on 09/14/2010

Have you talked to the neighbor about it?

If the neighbor isn't cooperative, you might try using something to generate "white noise" to mask out the barking sounds -- an air conditioner, for example.

[aceshigh]

01:34 PM on 09/14/2010

I am continually sleep-deprived, and it shows.

I do fall asleep at the wheel frequently, usually driving home...it's the worst feeling in the world. I literally end up slapping myself to get me out of a stupor, as well as blasting the A/C and cranking the music.

[jumbotron16]

11:23 PM on 09/14/2010

Me too.

[Bugs777Bunny]

11:14 PM on 09/15/2010

Try napping after a quick lunch. I tried it, it works.

[merlinspinoza]

01:00 PM on 09/14/2010

americans needed sleep allready in 1959

the first article about maharishi's Transcendental meditation (TM) in a newspaper then said " TM makes you sleep better "

maahrishi felt he was bringing enlightenment but yes a good nights sleep is part of that maintainance of life

the first or among the first scientific studies by Robert Wallace probably 1970 about TM showed in 20 minutes TM results in a deeper state of rest than deep sleep and yet theres inner wakefulness

[charlot]

12:57 PM on 09/14/2010

Getting a full night's sleep, even once or twice a week, is a challenge at best for many people. I am immensely stressed-out, plus we have three cats who create an all-night feline parade in and out of the room (and on and off the bed) all night long...love the kitties, but I wish they'd let me sleep!!
I do great on the weekends, but not during the week when I have to go to a horrible, loathsome job every day. Unfortunately, killing the boss isn't an option, either, because I'd probably sleep even worse in the pen....and I'd miss my partner and the cats.

[dartagnan]

05:56 PM on 09/14/2010

"plus we have three cats who create an all-night feline parade in and out of the room (and on and off the bed) all night long"

Duh, do you have a DOOR on the bedroom? If so, close it. If not, get one and use it.

[yellowdoggie]

03:33 AM on 09/15/2010

Don't have indoor pets, huh. Do you know what a cat or dog will do if it wants in the room where you are and there is a closed door between you?

[gtoddyt5]

12:36 PM on 09/14/2010

Looks about right. I suffer from all of those things except the drowsiness behind the wheel. I have been sleep-deprived for over a decade.

[Bugs777Bunny]

11:17 PM on 09/15/2010

Try napping after a quick lunch. I tried it, it works.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:31 PM on 09/16/2010

Don't laugh. It might be restless legs syndrome; ask your doctor. You will never, ever sleep a night if you have it, and your legs will hurt a lot..it's very debilitating, despite the jokes.