--- title: 7 Signs You're Not Getting Enough Sleep description: There might be a hidden reason you’re so grouchy canonical: https://time.com/3741436/not-getting-enough-sleep/ author: Real Simple article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-12T21:34:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:26.199Z og:title: 7 Signs You're Not Getting Enough Sleep og:description: There might be a hidden reason you’re so grouchy og:url: https://time.com/3741436/not-getting-enough-sleep/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3c0c43c09b106ba/6987833c3c1639ae5945238d/185232706-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 507 og:image:height: 285 og:image:alt: alarm-clock-woman og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 7 Signs You're Not Getting Enough Sleep twitter:description: There might be a hidden reason you’re so grouchy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3c0c43c09b106ba/6987833c3c1639ae5945238d/185232706-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 7 Signs You're Not Getting Enough Sleep > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=31b0dbe0-c502-414d-a77e-c96a6bcfbfa1&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Experts Think Young Children Should Get More Sleep [Watch (HLS stream): Experts Think Young Children Should Get More Sleep](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IaueniAO.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2015-02-05. The National Sleep foundation compiled an 18-person panel of scientists and asked them to review 300 studies on how much sleep different age groups should get. Here are the results._ by [Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Real Simple Mar 12, 2015 9:34 PM UTC  Portrait of alarm clock and upset woman in the background Portrait of alarm clock and upset woman in the background Getty Images by [Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Real Simple Mar 12, 2015 9:34 PM UTC In our seemingly always-on society, there’s great temptation to shortchange sleep. But sleep is a vital driver of every physiological system in the human body, and when we’re deprived of shuteye, health and wellbeing can suffer in myriad ways. Here, 7 signs it’s time to start heading to bed a little earlier. **Your mood is… pretty moody.** Sleep and emotional health are deeply interconnected. Patients with anxiety and depression are more likely to report chronic insomnia, according to [statistics from the Harvard Medical School](http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter%5Farticle/Sleep-and-mental-health). And even short-term, partial sleep loss can negatively affect mood, outlook, and the quality of our most important relationships: “If you’re sleep deprived, you’re more vulnerable to crankiness, irritability, and challenges coping with stress,” says [Lauren Hale](http://publichealth.stonybrookmedicine.edu/faculty/LaurenHale), associate professor of preventive medicine in the program in public health at Stonybrook University and editor-in-chief of the journal _Sleep Health_. Sleep and stress can also create a nasty cycle: anxiety makes it harder to fall asleep, and then lack of sleep makes us more sensitive to the pressures of every day life, she explains. **Your productivity and performance are slipping**. Chronic sleep deprivation can negatively affect our abilities to reason, focus, and even find the right words to describe simple things, creating a cumulative, monumental effect in the workplace. In fact, insomnia alone is estimated to cost the American economy a staggering $63.2 billion annually in lost productivity, according to [the Harvard Medical School](http://hms.harvard.edu/news/insomnia-costing-us-workforce-632-billion-year-researchers-estimate-9-2-11). Often we believe it’s absolutely essential to stay up late finishing up work projects or preparing for presentations. But, it turns out, _stopping_ work in time to wind down and get a good night’s sleep is generally the best way to improve productivity and performance overall. Nighttime sleep and dreaming promote new learning, memory consolidation, and greater creativity, [Robert Stickgold](https://sleep.med.harvard.edu/people/faculty/220/robert+stickgold+phd), director of the Center for Sleep and Cognition at Harvard Medical School, has discovered in a wide range of sleep studies dating back almost 40 years. Lately, though, Stickgold has also shown in newer experiments that daytime naps may do as much good for memory processing as a full night’s sleep. They even seem to trump coffee as a workday pick-me up. Caffeine does boost cognitive power for up to a half hour, “but sleep is actually taking the recent information that you’ve learned and filing it away for you so you can more effectively take in new information,” Stickgold told Time magazine [in an interview](http://time.com/3211964/nap-rooms-at-universities/) last year. **You’re gaining weight**. People who sleep fewer than six hours at night are more likely to be overweight—and show reduced levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin, along with elevated levels of hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin—the large-scale, long-running [Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study showed for the first time in 2004](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15602591). More recently, researchers have identified a strong connection between lack of sleep and increased risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disorder frequently triggered by overeating and obesity. This prompted the medical journal [_Lancet_ to argue last year](http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587%2814%2970012-9/abstract) that, given the “24/7 lifestyle of modern societies,” doctors everywhere should work harder to “motivate their patients to enjoy sufficient sleep” as a way to prevent—and treat—both obesity and diabetes. **You’re not looking your best**: Red, puffy eyes, dark under-eye circles, and turned-down corners of the mouth were all readily identified in sleep-deprived people participating in a recent [Stockholm University study](http://www.journalsleep.org/viewabstract.aspx?pid=29095). “People can usually tell if you’ve had a rough night,” says Lauren Hale. “Even small amounts of sleep deprivation affect your appearance.” **Your judgment is faltering**. Accurately reading social situations and making good decisions both heavily depend on the brain’s capacity to process emotions. But when people are sleep deprived, the region of the brain involved with emotional processing, the prefrontal cortex, “basically goes to sleep,” according to Harvard Medical School sleep researcher [William Killgore](https://sleep.med.harvard.edu/people/faculty/736/William+D+S+Killgore+PhD). And there’s evidence being sleepy makes people sneaky, too: Sleep-deprived employees are more likely to cut corners and take credit for others work, according to research reviewed by organizational psychologists [Thomas W. Britt](http://www.clemson.edu/cbbs/about/profiles/?userid=TWBRITT) and [Steve M. Jex](http://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/psychology/people/sjex.html) in their new book [_Thriving Under Stress_](http://www.amazon.com/Thriving-Under-Stress-Harnessing-Workplace/dp/0199934339/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425057429&sr=8-1&keywords=thriving+under+stress). Why? “Presumably,” write Jex and Britt, not getting enough Zzs results in “a reduced amount of self-control.” **Your libido’s flagging**. Fatigue can be an important factor when it comes to why women aren’t in the mood for sex. In particular, women involved with caring for children and aging parents frequently report being too exhausted for intimacy at the end of the day, according to the [Mayo Clinic](http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/low-sex-drive-in-women/basics/causes/con-20033229). And untreated [sleep apnea](http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders-problems/sleep-apnea)—a sleep disorder that disrupts breathing and is estimated to afflict more than 18 million Americans—has also been linked to [loss of libido in women](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21699663). If you suspect your waning sex drive—or any other symptom of persistent fatigue—may be related to a serious health condition, such as sleep apnea or insomnia, it’s important to seek treatment for the underlying problem. **You’re** **getting drowsy** **during** **the** **day**. This one might seem fairly obvious—but feeling exhausted during the daytime hours is a big red flag that you aren’t clocking enough sleep at night. And the symptoms can be subtler than yawning every five minutes or needing an IV drip of coffee to prop yourself upright (think: nodding off during a boring meeting). And daytime drowsiness is more than just a nuisance—it’s also a major public health problem. The National Institutes of Health estimates that [30 percent or more of Americans are chronically underslept](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/summer12/articles/summer12pg16.html), with potentially deadly consequences: nodding off at the wheel is estimated to cause [up to 6,000 traffic fatalities per year](http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsDrowsyDriving/), according Centers for Disease Control. Most adults need [seven to nine](http://www.realsimple.com/sleep-recommendations) hours of sleep, and increasingly, pre-bedtime use of tablets and other screens appears to be an important factor contributing to our collective slept debt, according to Hale. Late-evening use of screens not only suppresses the normal rise in melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep, but it revs us up just when we should be winding down, says Hale: “Whether you’re watching T.V. or engaging in social media, the experience can be very psychologically stimulating, increasing alertness and making it harder to fall asleep. Powering down before bedtime is so important.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/sleep/sneaky-signs-sleep-deprived?xid=time-rs) _originally appeared on_ [_RealSimple.com_](http://www.realsimple.com/)_._ _More from Real Simple:_ * [7 Weird Ways Daylight Saving Time Affects Your Health](http://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/sleep/daylight-saving-time-health-effects?xid=time-rs) * [What Is Your Recurring Dream?](http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/what-is-your-recurring-dream?xid=time-rs) * [5 Secrets to Deep Sleep](http://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/sleep/deep-sleep?xid=time-rs) ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:09] Getting quality sleep is easier said than done. When it [00:11] comes to sleep, should we be going for eight hours? [00:13] The need to sleep is one of the strongest biological [00:15] urges we have. [ MUSIC ] And [00:21] finally he was [ UNKNOWN ] increased death. People [00:24] work shift jobs who are unable to get into a certainium [00:28] rhythm of normal sleep have a higher mortality rate. [00:30] [ MUSIC ] Sleep [00:35] isn't lost time, or just a way to rest when all our [00:38] important work is done. Instead, it's a critical function, [00:42] during which your body balances and regulates it's [00:45] vital systems. 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