Sleep deprivation

From Wikinfo

NPOV
     

//-->

Sleep deprivation is an overall lack of the necessary amount of sleep. A person can be deprived of sleep by their own body and mind, insomnia, or actively deprived by another individual. Sleep deprivation is sometimes used as an instrument of torture, but in recent years it has been shown to be an effective treatment of depression and other mental illnesses.

Lack of sleep may result in irritability, blurred vision, slurred speech, memory lapses, overall confusion, nausea and eventually death.

William C Dement, M.D., Ph.D., is a leading researcher on sleep and sleep deprivation and is by some considered to be the world's leading authority on these subjects.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Sleep_deprivation" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation, used under the GNU Free Documentation License