You know how it feels after a poor night's sleep. Your brain if foggy, it's hard to concentrate, and your reaction time is slowed. It feels like you're walking through mud, and though caffeine can help you wipe a few of the cobwebs away, it can also leave you feeling jittery. Help may be on the horizon.

In animal studies, sniffing a brain chemical known as orexin A helped erase some of the side effects of sleep deprivation. What was interesting was that not only did the animals involved show better cognitive function and more alertness, their brains also appeared to be more awake on PET scans.

Recent studies have put sleep near the top of the list of healthy lifestyle habits, and not getting enough can affect more than your performance. If and when this drug is developed, it won't address the other health issues involved with not getting enough sleep. So although it may help those who need to be alert even when they're tired, it'll never replace a good, solid night's sleep.

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New moms, night owls, insomniacs, third-shift workers, and others who lose sleep on a regular basis already know that sleep loss can lead to a shorter fuse. Recently, scientists studied two groups of people -- one sleep deprived, one not -- using MRI and are now able to tell us why. The area of the brain that controls emotional responses becomes highly over-reactive when a person is sleep deprived, making it harder for that person to control emotions or put things into perspective.

Scientists think that this study may help mental health experts better understand the connection between psychiatric disorders and sleep. For the rest of us, it's just another reason to make getting enough zzzzz's a priority in our lives.

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