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Noticeably less sleep
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat. You might not notice, but not getting enough sleep might make you worse at noticing things. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Jeanne Duffy saw it in 12 people in a one-month study in a sleep lab. The participants’ sleep was cut back from 10 to 12 hours to less than six hours. They searched for differences in pictures on a computer, and Duffy says they performed slower with less sleep, even if they didn’t realize it. Duffy says there is a lesson for the sleep-deprived: “When they cut back on the amount of sleep that they’re getting, especially if they do that on a regular basis, they may not realize how impaired they are by their own sleepiness.” The study in the Journal of Vision was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Learn more at healthfinder.gov. HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss. Last revised: August 30, 2012
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