Not getting enough sleep may make you misread emotions on Zoom calls

Getting less sleep for five nights in a row can make you view other people’s expressions more negatively, including facial reactions seen over video calls

By Jessica Hamzelou

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IF YOU have five consecutive nights of restricted sleep, it will not only leave you sleepy and grumpy, it may also make you view other people’s reactions more negatively.

We know that sleep deprivation can affect the way a person thinks and functions. But sleep restriction, in which a person gets less sleep than is normal for them, is far more common.

To find out how it might affect our cognition, Daniela Tempesta at the University of L’Aquila in Italy and her colleagues asked 42 volunteers to restrict …