One important thing that’s not ruined by lack of sleep: Sarcasm
Not getting enough sleep? You're not alone. With the average person in Britain getting just 6.5 hours sleep, scientists just keep telling us how that's bad for our health (from causing cancer to increasing the chances of catching the common cold), our brains, relationships and our working life.
Now, scientists have given us a tiny, but valuable, helping of good news when it comes to one of the major features of modern life: sleep deprivation has no effect on our ability to identify sarcasm.
Not enough shut-eye doesn't turn us into a Sheldon from Big Bang Theory-type humourless robot, researchers at the university of Brussels have found.
Read more: Three stats showing how smartphones are ruining sleep
A new study, published in journal Plos One, pitted sleep deprived participants against those who were well rested and tasked them with interpreting whether an ambiguous voicemail message was sincere or sarcastic.
“Interestingly, our results show that sleep deprived participants end up being as accurate as participants having slept normally, indicating that (fortunately) a night of sleep deprivation does not completely hinder one’s ability to interpret sarcasm,” the researchers found. Although, they did note those who were sleep deprived did take longer to interpret the meaning.
If you find yourself yawning at your desk, don't worry, it's not the end of the world – you can still enjoy that sarcastic office banter.