Your brain needs ample sleep. According to neuroscientists, sleep is restorative, whereas sleep deprivation lowers your resistance to stress and harms your brain. Lack of sleep interferes with memory and learning. Your brain moves slower. You’re more forgetful, and your attention is short-circuited. A recent study showed that ample sleep restores clarity and performance by actively refining cortical plasticity. The converse is also true. Studies show that sleep deprivation leads to brain stress, cloudy thinking and decision fatigue. Plus, fragmented sleep signals a vulnerability to social stress. Research shows sleep loss makes it difficult to see the positive side of things, causing us to react stronger to stressful workplace situations; whereas, ample sleep helps us respond better to negative and positive situations at work.