Mental Health

Sleep-Deprived People Look Sick and Ugly

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Sep 05, 2013 10:47 AM EDT

Not getting enough sleep makes people look ugly, depressed and unhealthy, according to new research.

Scientists believe that these perceptions could affect how people treat sleep-deprived individuals.

Swedish researchers at the University of Stockholm took photographs of people once after a food night's sleep and once after they had been awake for 31 hours.  Afterwards, researchers asked 40 people to rate the pictures on how tired, sad and attractive the participants looked.

Sleep deprived people looked like they had dark circles, hanging eyelids as well as redder and more swollen eyes. They were also perceived as having paler skin, more wrinkles and droopy corners of the mouth.

"Since faces contain a lot of information on which humans base their interactions with each other, how fatigued a person appears may affect how others behave toward them," lead researcher Tina Sundelin told The Atlantic.

Sundelin says that people might be more sympathetic to people who look sleep deprived. However, she also says that lack of sleep can make people look vulnerable, which can lake them more vulnerable and easy to take advantage of.

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