Although these functions are amongst the first to be impaired with sleep loss, they are difficult to measure and have largely been ignored by sleep researchers. There are practical implications, for example, sleep loss may well impair the abilities to comprehend fully a rapidly changing situation, leaving one liable to distraction by irrelevant information, think more rigidly, perseverate and and be less able to produce innovative solutions. The number of words in one's vocabulary is reduced both verbally and in writing. Such a scenario may affect many over-night working situations, such as hospital accident and emergency departments, industrial control rooms, and various military situations. Funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Many people can easily sleep more than their usual amount.
In the same way that one can eat more than one needs, one can sleep more than is necessary. Funded by the Wellcome Trust. These and other findings from our Laboratory have a bearing on the understanding of human sleep function. We have developed techniques for qualifying and quantifying this phenomenon. This makes one more liable to the effects of alcohol and boredom in the early afternoon.