Why are we nervous when we are tired?

r/

Hi! Every time I sleep less or I’m tired I feel more nervous than usual, grumpy. I think I’m not the only one. Why does this happen? I mean for once evolution could give us a trait like “you feel tired darling? here is some of the GOOD stuff” (like dopamine)

Comments

  1. Vibrantmender20 Avatar

    Tolerating stress/anxiety is mentally and physically taxing. When you’re tired you have less energy/resources to dedicate to managing stress.

    It’s the same reason you tend to get sick easily when you’re really stressed and/or tired.

  2. Golarion Avatar

    Human already do enough stupid stuff for funsies. The last thing evolution wants to do is reward exhaustion with feel good dopamine. 

    Cortisol rises with sleep deprivation, causing stress. Blood sugar and body temperature is probably low if the body was interrupted mid sleep, as these drop during the night and hen are raised on schedule in advance of natural waking.

    And generally the brain isn’t operating as well as it should be, so impulse control is lowered. So if you’re annoyed and stressed, you’re more likely to show it. 

  3. Emergency-Goat-4249 Avatar

    Yeah I was stressed and tired at work when my coworker came stampeding over with what I deemed an unreasonable request and I responded in a cranky way. Not really that sorry though. (The request was something that I’m not supposed to be doing anyway)

  4. Royal-Principle6138 Avatar

    I’m awful when I’m tired like a toddler at 51 😂

  5. Robokat_Brutus Avatar

    Oh I am horrible if you wake me in the morning / middle of the night, before I am really. I feel bad afterwards and I apologize, but it’s like I am upset at thw whole of existance 😂

  6. acline104 Avatar

    It’s like a low-battery phone, your body’s just trying to keep the lights on, but everything’s glitching. The tiredness makes your brain start overthinking everything because it’s too exhausted to filter out the nonsense.