Sleep Deprivation Is A Wide Spread Phenomenon - 1277 Words

Sleep is one of our most basic physiological needs and getting enough of it is paramount to keeping our bodies and minds functioning at optimal performance. The amount of sleep needed varies and decreases by age. From 12-18 hours needed by a newborn to 7-9 hours needed by a health adult. The basal sleep need varies by individual with some people requiring more or less sleep than others (Czeisler 2014). When an individual does not get enough sleep they enter a state of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation elicits a wide range of negative physiological effects, most notably sleep deprivation adversely effects cognition. Unfortunately insufficient sleep is a wide-spread phenomenon. A study by Hublin (2001) found sleep deficits in one fifth of†¦show more content†¦It is no surprise that sleep deprivation results in accidents when the long list of cognitive performance effects is examined. Some of the observed effects include: involuntary micro-sleeps, increased errors in attenti on-intensive performance, cognitive slowing and errors in subject-paced tasks, slowed response times, a decline in short-term recall and working memory performances, reduced learning (acquisition) in cognitive tasks, deterioration of tasks requiring divergent thinking, increased effort to remain behaviorally effective, performance deterioration as task duration increases, and loss of situational awareness. When sleep deprivation occurs through acute total sleep deprivation or chronic partial sleep restriction attention (particularly vigilance) and working memory are considerably reduced. Long-term memory and decision making are also impaired (Alhola 2007). The frontal lobe is linked to the functioning of both attention and working memory, both falling under the umbrella of executive functioning. Executive performance functions promoted by the prefrontal cortex working jointly with the anterior cingulate and posterior parietal systems are particularly vulnerable to sleep loss. Change s in both cortical and subcortical neural processing were demonstrated by a study examining both neuroimaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological (EEG ERPs) measures (Alhola 2007). In addition to the macro effects displayed by sleep loss, effects at the molecular level are also