Lack Of Sleep Has The Same Effects As Being Drunk, According To Study

We need to talk about that all-nighter you just pulled because you got really into "Orange Is the New Black."

If you're at work right now, you may as well be drunk.

This surprising news comes from a study conducted by the UK's Royal Society for Public Health. The study took a closer look at a very hot topic: What does lack of sleep do to the body?

Disturbingly enough, the researchers found after 17 hours without sleep, study participants had similar alertness to someone with a 0.05 percent blood alcohol content. (In case that number means nothing to you, that's considered legally "impaired" by a number of US jurisdictions.)

Even scarier, 24 hours of no sleep reportedly puts you on the legally drunk scale, with an alertness similar to someone with a BAC of 0.1 percent.

Aside from basically being a drunk person, skimping on sleep has a lot of other scary consequences.

Research shows not getting your recommended seven to eight hours of sleep produces more of the hunger hormone ghrelin in the body, which can lead to weight gain.

On top of that, lack of sleep leads to reduced concentration and creativity, increased irritability and even memory loss.

Plus, let's be real, you look a lot better after a really good night of sleep.

So, stop saying, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." You need to sleep tonight.

Citations: Sleep Deprivation Is the Same as Being Drunk, Study Says (ELLE), Waking up to the health benefits of sleep (Royal Society for Public Health), Why being tired makes us look ugly (NBC News)