Sleep deprivation has become such a great problem in our country that it’s keeping us awake at night. The National Sleep Foundation recently reported that 75 percent of Americans have trouble sleeping, and while we should have seven to nine hours of sleep at night, our average snooze is 6.9 hours. Night after night, it all adds up. Although the sleep foundation didn’t mention the symptoms of extreme sleep loss, these obvious signs might be of some help:You startle awake halfway thorough your drive to work. When you arrive at work, you discover one of your shoes is a brown loafer and the other is a pink, sequined beach sandal. At the same time, you notice that your workplace parking lot is deserted and the doors are locked. Struggling past a sleepy stupor, you realize it’s Sunday. On an actual workday, you find out too late that you grabbed the wrong lunch bag off the kitchen counter when you left home. While your third grader will undoubtedly complain about having a container of unsweetened, plain yogurt and carrot sticks for lunch, you will have to settle for a peanut butter sandwich and a Twinkie packed in a SpongeBob SquarePants lunch box. The trusty old briefcase you grabbed in the hallway this morning turns out to be your wife’s sample case for her door-to-door cosmetic sales. You don’t know there’s a problem until you reach into the case during an important meeting, whip out a tube of bright red lipstick and announce, "This is what will keep our company from the brink of disaster."You’re a woman, you’re at work, and by 9 a.m. you find yourself in the vise-like grip of your daughter’s too-small pantyhose. Apparently, you weren’t very alert when you dressed in the morning and you failed to read the size tag in the back seam of the undergarment. As a result of the pantyhose trying to get back to its normal shape and size, you have no feeling below your waist. In general, your thought processes seem to have slowed down. When someone inquires about the names and ages of your children, you draw a blank. "Let’s see. There’s that one blonde girl and that other one that wears glasses. That’s all I can remember right now, but I’ll get back to you, OK?"There’s also the added weight problem, one of the most noticeable symptoms of sleep loss. Another study released recently by the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk found that total sleep time decreased as body mass index — a measure of weight based on height — increased. In other words, people who sleep less tend to be fat. In this case, look for these symptoms:The good news is that your closet is filled with clothes. The bad news is that they’re in eight different sizes. Snacking between meals has become such a habit that you eat leftovers directly from the refrigerator, leaving the door open. Forks and spoons are kept in the dishes so you won’t have to waste time and energy walking to and from the silverware drawer a few steps away. Finally, you know you’re experiencing a severe case of sleep deprivation when more often than not your typical response to a cheerful "Good morning!" is, "What’s so good about it?"