Little Sleep Impairs Mind as Much as No Sleep
 (NY, Reuters Health, 3/14/03)

Dr. Hans P.A. Van Dongen at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues divided 48 subjects into 4 groups that either did not sleep for 3 days or slept 4, 6 or 8 hours a night for 2 weeks. The researchers tested the participants daily and found that getting fewer than 8 hours of sleep nightly correlated with slower reaction times and decreases in the ability to think clearly, in some cases reducing performance to the level of those who had gotten no sleep at all.