When you’re dealing with a soon to be or new born, life gets pretty hectic. Take Leah Speer, a mother of an 11-month old boy who’s dealing with some slightly crazy stuff thanks to sleep deprivation.

See, the reason everyone tells us we’re supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night is because we’re supposed to get eight hours sleep a night. But life takes priority, between family and work and stress and everything. A lot of people go through what Leah did, barely managing to get five hours a night in. The problem is that causes sleep deprivation, which leads to drops in Serotonin, rises in anticipatory anxiety, and apathy towards positive experiences. It causes irritability, loss of focus, forgetfulness, anxiety, and depression.

But sometimes you can’t sleep. Sometimes you have things to do, and sometimes you just cant. But it’s also not just you. This is science saying these things.

So don’t worry if you’ve been feeling cranky or forgetful or anxious lately, it’s partly a side effect of just not getting enough sleep.

Read the full article: 5 ways sleep deprivation can feel like you’re losing your mind