Effects of sleep deprivation

The effects of sleep deprivation reflect how important sleep is to us. Inadequate sleep or disruptions to the sleep cycle (like shift work or jet lag) can cause impaired judgment, coordination and reaction times. Even staying awake for 24 hours causes hand-eye coordination problems similar to alcohol consumption.

Signs of sleep deprivation

In adults:

• Feeling groggy when waking in the morning
• Daytime sleepiness
• Irritability
• Persistent yawning
• Clumsiness

In children:

• Irritability and tantrums
• Hyperactivity
• Naps during the day
• Morning grogginess
• Difficulty getting up in the morning

Performance effects
Even getting two hours less sleep than you need can have significant effects like:

• inattentiveness
• short attention span
• slow reaction times
• poor judgement
• poor decision-making
• poor memory
• rumination
• moodiness
• bad temper
• lower work productivity
• increased errors

Sleep debt

We all need a specific amount of daily sleep. The average sleep needs for young adults is between 7 and 9 hours on average, with some people needing less and others needing more. You are the best judge of how much sleep leaves you feeling the best. If you don't obtain this amount of sleep, you create a sleep debt. The more sleep you forgo, the more need for sleep accumulates. And, your sleep debt does not disappear or just reduce. The only way to lower your individual sleep debt is by getting additional sleep beyond your daily needs.

Your sleep debt determines how strongly you feel the need to sleep. The brain increases your tendency to fall asleep in proportion to the size of your sleep debt, ensuring that you ultimately get the amount of sleep you need, or close to it. You see this when you are drowsy and experience daytime sleepiness.

With our busy lives, it is tempting to ignore these natural signals to get more sleep, but the consequences can be serious, particularly when we insist on driving cars and undertaking other risk-related activities requiring concentration.