In a perfect world, we would all start our days well-rested, bright-eyed and cheerful, without needing a cup of coffee. Caffeine might keep us awake, but our need for sleep is persistent, and our lack of it has real consequences. Many people know that sleep deficits negatively impact mood, mental functioning, and physical performance, but what about our romantic relationships? Does your love life suffer when you don't get enough sleep? And how much sleep do you need to be a good romantic partner? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, some basics: Our minds and bodies require sleep, usually seven to nine hours for the average adult, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Yet a growing number of adults are short sleepers, averaging less than seven hours a night. This partial sleep deprivation, typically accompanied by chronic drowsiness and a feeling of needing more sleep, is often worse than one-time sleep deprivation. So, how does chronic short sleep impact the success of our romantic relationships? Sleep deprivation can make you less attractive. People desire physically attractive romantic partners and assume that attractive people are fundamentally better people than unattractive people. Such beliefs can help attractive people during the beginning of a relationship. But if you're sleep-deprived, you no longer look attractive, according to recent Swedish researchers. They showed participants photos of well-rested, sleep-deprived people, and the latter were rated less attractive and less healthy. Get your beauty sleep. Sleep deprivation damages your sense of humor. Making someone laugh is perceived as the number one way to attract a romantic partner, but people often don't realize that their sense of humor fluctuates with their ability to get a good night's sleep. Humor requires a high cognitive level, and lack of sleep inhibits this, affecting our ability to appreciate verbal humor. Unfortunately, caffeine and stimulants won't solve the problem. Less sleep could mean less relationship happiness. How close you feel to your partner, how secure you feel in the relationship, and how many positive emotions you readily attribute to your relationship are all closely linked to the quality of your sleep. Data shows, for example, that spouses with fewer sleep problems also tend to be happier. It could be that relationship problems make sleep quality worse, or that a bad night's sleep affects the relationship, but the more likely case is that of a two-way influence. In other words, changing your sleep habits is likely to improve the quality of your relationship. Short on sleep? You're probably not short on conflict. New evidence suggests that relationships suffer from worse romantic conflict when only one member of a couple is sleep deprived. People who sleep poorly tend to show more negative emotions and are less successful in resolving conflicts. Since it's common for couples to disagree from time to time, this finding suggests that lack of sleep could exacerbate disagreements and introduce unnecessary stress into otherwise happy relationships. Sleep deprivation impairs good decision making. Relationships require decisions, from the first moments of a first meeting to creating a stable, long-term connection. Should you spend time with this person? Should you introduce this person to your family? These.