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Excerpted from: "Live A Little! Breaking the Rules Won't Break Your Health" by Susan M. Love, M.D. and Alice D. Domar, Ph.D.
Instead of letting the eight-hour myth determine how much sleep you need, evaluate how you feel. If you get the right amount of sleep and you know it, feel free to skip
this quiz. But if you suspect that sleep loss is affecting the way you feel in the daytime, give it a try. For each symptom of sleep loss, make a note of the statement that most closely describes how you feel, then tally up your numbers and read about your score.
Sleep Loss Symptom:Making Stupid Mistakes
0 points: You never make mistakes, especially when it comes to sleep. You never drink caffeine after noon, eat a big meal before bed, or miss your bedtime by even a few minutes.
1 point: Once in a while, you catch yourself putting your car keys in the refrigerator or making other odd errors, but your life isn’t much affected by these rare trip-ups.
2 points: You frequently discover that you’ve done strange or silly things, and you’re annoyed at how much time you have to spend correcting them.
3 points: You never catch yourself making stupid mistakes -- but that’s only because you’re too tired to notice. Other people have to point them out to you before you realize what you’ve done.
Irritability
0 points: The only time you feel irritable is when somebody interrupts your sleep.
1 point: You occasionally feel crabby, but you can successfully suppress the impulse to growl at your family or coworkers.
2 points: You’re not nearly as nice as you used to be.
3 points: You’re a bitch. Other people have commented about how irritable you are. Of course you’re irritable, you think: No one else ever does anything right!
Forgetfulness
0 points: You like sleeping so much that you “forget” to set the alarm clock.
1 point: Your mind is like a steel trap. Mostly.
2 points: Last week you forgot a meeting or appointment.
3 points: Last week you forgot to pick up your kids from school. Twice.
Apathy/Lack of Motivation
0 points: You don’t ever feel like going out with friends or letting the kids stay up late on the weekends because you might miss your 10 p.m. bedtime.
1 point: Sometimes you have to consciously summon up the desire to perform a task, but you can usually talk yourself into action.
2 points: Several times a week, you really struggle to get up and do what has to be done. Sometimes you decide to just let things slip.
3 points: You’re too tired to care about anything. The house could be on fire or the kids could be cutting their hair with pinking shears, but you wouldn’t mind—just as long as you don’t have to get off the couch.
Yawning
0 points: You get eight or nine hours of sleep, but you still yawn a lot.
1 point: You yawn infrequently. When you do yawn, it’s in the early afternoon or around bedtime.
2 points: Your boss says, “Am I boring you?” because you yawn during meetings.
3 points: Your husband says, “Am I boring you?” because you yawn during sex.
Next Page: Finish the quiz and get your score.
