How to Take Smarter Risks

Skimping on sleep? Stay away from Vegas . . . or shopping, or anywhere else you'll be asked to make decisions that could cost you. Too little shut-eye and you make bad choices -- even more dramatic than those Clinton and Edwards and Foley made -- and it takes a big toll on the part of your brain that helps you learn from those mistakes. In fact, not sleeping is like drinking, and way too much alcohol doesn't make you better at anything, no matter how good you feel (it makes you worse at that, too, Bucko).

Researchers saw less learning and more mistake-prone behavior than a drunken Texas Hold 'Em player when they scanned the brains of sleep-deprived people who were gambling. Weary people made riskier decisions and had higher expectations of winning. On top of that, they had less activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, an area in the brain that helps you learn from a loss or a bad decision.

Sleep loss short-circuits your brain's ability to process emotions related to loss and regret. Without that emotional pang, you keep betting or otherwise digging yourself in deeper. What's not good when you're gambling is also especially dangerous when you're dating, trying to ace a new project at work, or just sitting in front of the gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream that mysteriously jumped into your cart at the supermarket.

Fortunately, getting enough sleep can turn that around (more reasons to take your earplugs and eye mask with you on planes to Vegas) and bring you other payoffs. The right amount of sleep helps you stay slim and lowers your risk of developing diabetes, so you feel -- and are -- younger inside. A little extra shut-eye may be the best medicine your mind and body could ever have.