8 Unexpected Signs You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

How do you know if you had a great night’s sleep?

Chances are, most people attribute it to how they feel. Maybe they feel well-rested, alert, happy and coordinated. Maybe they can get through a whole day without yawning. Maybe they feel confident and ready to take on the world.

Getting enough sleep is strongly linked to your mood and mental wellbeing. So, yes, all those emotions are signs that your sleep routine is healthy. But what about the unexpected signs? What about some tell-tale physical signals that all is not well when it comes to your bedtime? Here are a few:

You’re sore

When you sleep, your body goes about the important and miraculous process of cell regeneration and rejuvenation. One of the areas that this particularly helps is your muscles. According to the CEO of the Sleep Health Foundation, Moira Junge, “Sleep loss can cause cell damage, and a function of sleep is tissue repair. Quality sleep includes many biochemical and molecular level activity that restores balance in cells and therefore decreases cell injury.” If you’re getting enough sleep, the minor achiness that you felt the following day should improve the following morning. If you’re waking up and still feeling the pains that affected you, there might be an issue with how much (or even how) you’re sleeping.

The connection between pain and sleep is more complex than simply feeling tired – poor sleep can actually make your body hurt, and persistent pain can disrupt your ability to rest. Dr Junge says, “Pain and sleep are clearly associated but the direction of the relationship (chicken or egg) is often debated. The possible mechanisms contributing to this relationship (between pain and sleep) include inflammation, affect, mood, the role of different endogenous substances (dopamine, orexin, melatonin, vitamin D) as well as other lesser-known neural pathways that are still being explored.”

Your short term memory is unreliable

As you move through an REM cycle – or a Rapid Eye Movement cycle of sleep – your brain is processing all the activity of the day. What that means is that it is taking everything that you have seen, done and learned and categorizing it so that you can store that information for future use. When you’re getting enough sleep, your brain will have enough time to go about this process and your short term memory will be strong and sound. But if you’re not getting enough sleep, you may find that you have trouble recalling things that happened in the recent past.

The Sleep Health Foundation elaborates on this in their online resources, explaining that “Sleep helps to prepare our brain for learning new things. When we are well rested, we can pay better attention to new information that we come across in our daily experiences. Sleep will help make new information 'stick’.”

You can’t grow your hair

Remember when we were talking about cell regeneration before? This process is particularly important when it comes to the protein and cells in our hair. A sound night’s sleep can stimulate the release of hair growth hormones and improve the strength and health of our locks. Dr Junge clarifies that, “In the scientific literature there are a variety of factors relating to thinning hair and hair loss, including the normal aging process, inflammation, hormonal fluctuations, stress, nutritional deficiency, poor sleep quality, and other things such as disease (e.g. cancer, thyroid dysfunction, or side effects from some medications). Essentially, she concludes, “there is emerging evidence that getting adequate sleep helps to support hormonal and cellular function through all the systems of the body which could include hair loss.”

You’re struggling with alertness

It’s hard to be on top of your game if you’re not getting enough sleep. That’s because of the simple reason that when you’re tired you are less alert, have less concentration and are usually sluggish and slow. If you are getting a healthy eight hours of sleep each night, you’ll find that you wake up each day with laser-sharp focus and will be able to reach the goals that you set for yourself each morning.

Dr Junge explains that the cause of this is thought to be due to a buildup of the toxins that are eliminated during adequate sleep. “The glymphatic system is an essential waste clearance pathway in the brain and it plays a critical role in maintaining our abilities to concentrate and think more clearly,” she says. “When this system isn’t working as efficiently as it should (due to inadequate sleep) it can lead to the accumulation of toxins and waste products, contributing to brain fog and difficulty concentrating.”

Your gut health needs attention

You might not associate gut health with sleep, but the two are thought to be closely linked. According to studies, poor sleep impacts on the variety and health of the bacteria in our gut, and conversely, the bacteria on our gut can impact how we sleep. Many find that when their sleep is impacted, they notice it in their gut. This sleep/gut connection is still a bit of a mystery, and the research can be conflicting. According to Dr Junge, some studies suggest that poor sleep doesn’t directly cause changes in the gut, but instead affects mood. In other words, when people don’t sleep well, they may feel more anxious or emotionally sensitive, and that anxiety could be what makes their abdominal pain worse – not the lack of sleep itself changing their digestion.

Your skin is breaking out

Beauty sleep isn’t just a cutesy idiom, it’s a real thing. While you sleep, cell regeneration is taking place across your entire body including your face and skin. Sleep also produces collagen, which works to combat fine lines and wrinkles and circulates your blood flow around your skin, leading to a bright, radiant complexion. Studies suggest that poor sleep may increase stress hormone levels, which can trigger excess oil production and inflammation, both of which are linked to acne. Sleep deprivation has also been associated with drier skin, decreased skin elasticity, and a compromised skin barrier, making it harder for your skin to recover from daily damage. Without prioritizing good quality sleep, you’re likely not going to see these results in your face, no matter how many fancy moisturisers or expensive facials you go for.

You’re lacking creativity

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Beatles’ Yesterday, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity… All of these things came to their creators in dreams. This should go some way to proving to you the power of a good night’s sleep, especially when it comes to creativity. According to Dr Junge, “when the brain is not receiving adequate sleep there is poorer concentration, lower reaction times, poorer memory recall, less alertness so it’s likely and unsurprising that creativity as a cognitive function could be impaired.”

The US organization The Sleep Foundation claims, “Creativity is another aspect of cognition that is hindered by sleeping problems. Connecting loosely associated ideas is a hallmark of creativity, and this ability is strengthened by good sleep. NREM sleep (Non-Rapid Eye Movement, the deeper, more restorative phase of sleep) provides an opportunity for information to be restructured and reorganized in the brain, while new ideas and links between thoughts often emerge during REM sleep. These processes enable insight, a core element of innovation and creative problem-solving."

Who knows, you might have the next Great American Novel in you. The best way to unlock your creative potential? Get some quality rest and see where your dreams take you.

You’re clumsy

When you’re tired, your reaction time and decision-making processes are weakened as your brain focuses on the important function of keeping you awake. It’s why you might find yourself extra clumsy on days when you have had a restless night in bed, or that you are more accident prone when suffering from lack of sleep. “Inadequate sleep can reduce reaction time and can reduce attention and concentration… there can be a negative impact on motor skills and coordination,” says Dr Junge. One place to look out for this effect is on the road, where many car accidents are caused by people whose reaction time has slowed down because they are tired. Make sure that you are getting plenty of rest before any long drives.

For more thorough, evidence-based information on sleep, explore The Sleep Health Foundation’s A-Z Sleep Factsheets. If you are concerned about your health, wellbeing or sleep, your first port of call should be your doctor, who will advise a correct treatment plan.