6 Ways Skimping on Sleep Is Bad for Your Relationship

healthydailymail.com Before your date night Netflix marathon stretches into the early hours of the morning, keep reading. Skipping even a few hours of sleep can have a major impact not only on your health—expanding your waistline, damaging brain cells, and increasing blood pressure, to name a few—but on your relationship too.

 Spend more time sleeping to spend more time not sleeping (wink, wink). According to research, you’re more likely to have sex when you sleep more. Scientists from the University of Michigan found that in general each additional hour of sleep increases your chances of having sex the next day by 14 percent.

If you find yourself forgetting to say “thank you,” your bedtime may be partially to blame. Research from the University of California found that you’re less likely to feel gratitude in your relationship when you’re sleep-deprived, making you less thankful for all the nice things your partner does for you.

Morning person or night owl? If you’re not in sleep sync with your partner, you’re more likely to report more relationship issues, including less frequent sex, less time spent having serious conversation, more conflict, and less time on shared activities.

If you’re planning for a baby, make sure you’re leaving plenty of bedroom time for rest. A study from the University of Southern Denmark found that men who have trouble falling or staying sleep had sperm counts that were 29 percent lower than those who didn’t have trouble sleeping.

When you skip sleep, you’re more likely to be a cranky jerk. Okay, so scientists prefer to use words like “irritable,” “angry,” and “hostile” instead. But whatever you call it, it makes navigating a relationship tougher even during the best of times…not to mention during conflicts.

You’re more likely to snap at your partner when you’re sleep-deprived—research has found a link between sleep loss and greater emotional reactivity (reacting overly intensely and involuntarily to a situation). Some research points to increased activity in the amygdala, a brain structure that plays a key role in emotions like anger and fear.