Sleeping in on Saturday after a few weeks of too little shuteye may feel refreshing, but it can give a false sense of security.New research shows chronic sleep loss cannot be cured that easily. Scientists teased apart the effects of short and long-term sleep loss and found that the chronically sleep-deprived may function normally soon after waking up, but experience steadily slower reaction times as the day wears on, even if they had tried to catch up the previous night.
It is work with important safety implications in an increasingly busy society, not just for shift-workers but for the roughly one in six Americans who regularly get six hours or less of sleep a night.
"We know that staying awake 24 hours in a row impairs performance to a level comparable to a blood-alcohol content beyond the legal limit to drive," said lead researcher Dr Daniel Cohen of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.
