Did you know???

Facts about sleep deprivation from the National Sleep Research Project in Australia

• After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.
• Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.
• Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.
• The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
• A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year
• One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.
• Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
• The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.