Get too few zzzzz and you could suffer one or more of these five distinct consequences, :

• No. 1: Your reaction time slows and you have trouble paying sustained attention. This is especially dangerous if you're driving either in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic or at high speeds on lonely roads.

• No. 2: You can't focus on multiple sources of information. The body's defense is to ignore some pieces of information so it can concentrate on others. But what are you disregarding and what effect could that have? Example: You're so busy trying to stay awake and not hit the car in front of you that you don't notice you're running out of gas.

• No. 3: Creativity suffers greatly. Sleepyheads who try to work or study often get stuck on bad solutions--and then can't think of anything better. Example: Try solving calculus problems at 2 a.m. after a long day in school.

• No. 4: Your memory suffers. When you're sleepy, you really cannot remember as much as when you're awake. A sleep-deprived brain also can't learn new information well.

• No. 5: Your brain can't do some critical things in a hurry. It's as if you're operating in slow motion. You'll likely experience microsleeps, which are repeated periods of one to 10 seconds in which you just zone out and your brain processes no information as it struggles between a state of sleep and wakefulness. The result? Inattentiveness.