Question: How do you know when you need to sleep

Alex Reid answered on 7 Nov 2018:

Thank you for your question. Sleep is a biological drive, like hunger, and your brain and body need it to be healthy and happy. As such, if you don’t get enough, you get symptoms. Some our direct and are your body telling you need sleep (the sensation of feeling sleepy) whereas others are more indirect, such as eyebags under your eyes. Eyebags probably have something to do with gravity, as you have been vertical (upright) for so long fluid pools under your eyes. You might also yawn, which is a big clue too. Yawning is a bit of a mysterious behavior, but it may be your body helping you stay awake by injecting a quick burst of oxygen into your blood stream. As you become more sleep deprived your brain might stop waiting for you to go and lie down, and you might have quick bursts of what we call ‘microsleep’ (your brain is not waiting for permission to sleep anymore!). You might also start hallucinating! Basically if you don’t get enough sleep not much good will come of it, so make sure you are well rested 🙂