Want to avoid errors? Sleep more

I thought this was pretty well established science, but apparently it's not. A new study has found that sleep deprivation can negatively affect information processing.

A study in the Nov.1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that sleep deprivation causes some people to shift from a more automatic, implicit process of information categorization (information-integration) to a more controlled, explicit process (rule-based). This use of rule-based strategies in a task in which information-integration strategies are optimal can lead to potentially devastating errors when quick and accurate categorization is fundamental to survival.

Results show that sleep deprivation led to an overall performance deficit on an information-integration category learning task that was held over the course of two days. Performance improved in the control group by 4.3 percent from the end of day one to the beginning of day two (accuracy increased from 74 percent to 78.3 percent); performance in the sleep-deprived group declined by 2.4 percent (accuracy decreased from 73.1 percent to 70.7 percent) from the end of day one to the beginning of day two.

According to co-principal investigators W. Todd Maddox, PhD, professor of psychology, and David M. Schnyer, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Texas in Austin, fast and accurate categorization is critical in situations that could become a matter of life or death. However, categorization may become compromised in people who often experience sleep deprivation in fast-paced, high pressure roles such as doctors, firefighters, soldiers and even parents. Many tasks performed on a daily basis require information-integration processing rather than rule-based categorization. Examples include driving, making a medical diagnosis and performing air-traffic control.

I think we've all experience times where we have been sleep deprived, and have our ability to use information be compromised as a result. So the findings of this study shouldn't come as a surprise.

Still, it's good that such things are researched, so it can be quantified how badly peoples' performance is affected. Studies, such as this one, can lead to changes in watch schedules etc. Or, given the fact that the effect is not universal, it could lead to better monitoring of those who have the type of jobs where this might cause problems.

The study is behind the paywall at SLEEP, but the abstract can be found here

I think this will be great news for people working under deadlines

Via ScienceDaily, I see that researchers reverse effects of sleep deprivation

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance can be reversed when the naturally occurring brain peptide, orexin-A, is administered in monkeys.

This is a very interesting finding, since earlier research has shown that it's possible to reach a state where it's no longer possible to catch up on sleep when sleep deprived. See Youngsoo Kim et al (link takes you to the abstract, but if you click on the pdf link in the right side, you can get to the full article).

This is obviously more Coturnix's field of expertise, but I would guess that it will need more research into the long term harmful effects of 'catching up' with this peptide has been investigated. It might be that it's 'cost free' so to speak, but before used on humans, we have to be certain about this (or at least know the costs).

The research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience, and the abstract can be found here. The full article is unfortunately hidden behind a pay wall.

Caffeine might become substitute to sleep

Or so, ScienceDaily tells us.

Morning Jolt Of Caffeine Might Mask Serious Sleep Problems

With the holiday season’s hustle and bustle in full swing, most of us will race to our favorite coffee shop to get that caffeine boost to make it through the day. However, that daily jolt that we crave might be the reason we need the caffeine in the first place.

“Many people won’t get enough sleep during the holidays and will drink numerous cups of coffee or high energy drinks so they will have enough energy to finish shopping and attend numerous parties,” said Dr. Joshua Septimus, an internist with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. “Most will use caffeine to push their bodies to the extreme, when they could get just as much energy from good night’s sleep.”

I'm shocked, shocked. Do you mean that a drink that you drink to wake you up, might actually keep you awake?

Of course, there is a deeper point to the article, which might be worth noticing - if you keep going on caffeinated drinks, you don't solve the root problems, but only the symptoms. Instead you should try to catch up on your sleep.

This, of course, is easier said than done, and doesn't really address those people who are forced to adapt to (for them) unnatural sleep patterns - e.g. 'owls' having to get up early in the morning.