Sleep Deprivation Consequences

John: I was just wondering how long you can actually go without sleeping before it becomes a physical problem that you need to do something about it.

Dr. Andrew Heyman: So, this young man is interested in understanding how long he can go with sleep deprivation before he starts to have effects. The short-term effects include not only poor cognition, short-term memory lapse, lack of concentration and certainly poor performance on exams, that can occur with just two hours of lack of sleep. On average, people need eight hours of sleep. If you get six hours or less, you're going to see your performance decline the next day. The long-term consequences include obesity, weight gain, hypertension, and even heart disease.


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