A recent study indicates that reduced amounts of sleep can significantly impair daytime performance.

In a recent study on sleep deprivation reported by the National Institutes of Health, subjects who slept only 4 to 6 hours a night for two weeks showed significant decrease in performance. Dr. Joseph Henkle, associate professor of pulmonary medicine at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, says participants' performance declined as their amount of sleep declined, but they didn't realize it. He explains:

SOUND BITE: "So even though their performance is getting worse and worse on testing, they didn't know they were more sleepy. Ah, which is again of some concern - that people may not be aware that they're as sleepy and their performance could be declining, when in fact it is. The longer one is deprived of sleep, the worse the situation might get in terms of their daytime performance."

Henkle says there's a cumulative effect of sleep loss. People think that they can catch up on their sleep by getting one good night's sleep of 8 or 9 hours. However, it takes multiple nights or days of getting extra sleep to restore sleep debt. Henkle says many things can affect a person's sleep patterns. It could be kids at home, work schedules, or other issues. He offers some suggestions to help people get the adequate amount sleep.

SOUND BITE: ". . . if we can at least figure out where to insert an extra hour or half-hour of sleep - probably the best is going to bed a little earlier, rather than changing a wake-up time, and adding a strategic nap on the weekends in the mid-afternoon, or a short nap in late afternoon in certain people, we can usually add in enough sleep that we get people back on a regular pattern that we do see significant improvements. . ."

Dr. Henkle says 8 or 9 hours of quality sleep is needed by most people. If you are having problems getting enough sleep and staying alert through your normal tasks, you may need to see your physician for an evaluation.