try going to Control Panel > Power Settings and click on the Change when the computer sleeps.
Now click the change advanced power settings and there will be settings to manage each power setting.
Choose the Hard Disk entry and try changing it to 10 minutes, under sleep > Hibernate after, click the Setting and it will allow you to choose when to hibernate. Go through the list and see if anything else pertains to your laptop.
I personally do not have a laptop, but I know there is an icon in the Notification area. When you right-click on the icon are there any options there.
Is the battery old, or did this just happen after installing Windows 7?