The Effects of Sleep Deprivation

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation

By Peter Bes

‘Where are my slippers!?’ and ‘Why is there no coffee!?’ are well known phrases in some households. The man of the house wakes up, and he is in an immediate bad mood. Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Or does this have to do with stress? That could very well be the case, but it can also have to do with something else. Cranky moods and feeling irritated are some of the effects of having a bad night’s sleep. But there are a lot more serious effects of short- and long-term sleep deprivation. . Short-term sleep deprivation has major effects on the brain. Do you know that feeling of waking up, after a short night, without being rested? Your eyes feel heavy, and everything you do seems to cost more energy than usual. This is actually the case. When you have not slept enough, and your brain is not well rested, some parts of the brain will have to work harder to compensate for parts which are not working properly.[1] This means that activities, which demand a high level of concentration, cannot be done to the fullest because some parts of the brain are not doing their job. Therefore, most of the functions that are essential for academic success or driving a car for example, are impaired. Another effect of being sleep deprived is a longer reaction time. When people sleep less than what the body demands, their reaction time is longer than when they have slept enough. This means that the brain needs more time to react to impulses, but also that the reactions are less accurate.[2] So when someone is driving a car and an object comes in the way which has to be dodged to prevent an accident, a sleep deprived person needs more time to realize what is going on than someone who is not suffering from sleep deprivation. The accuracy of the dodge is affected as well. A person who suffers from sleep deprivation has more difficulties in trying to keep the control of the car. What is also...