Does sleep deprivation have cumulative effect?
Yes the effects of sleep restriction do build up over the nights and days. One thing to be aware of though, is that doesn’t mean that you are necessarily always on the decline after not getting one night’s sleep. How alert we are in our mental performance and physical performance is partly driven by the biological clock, so when that doesn’t have that twenty-four hour cyclicity. Maximum sleepiness is at four in the morning but gradually rising throughout the day apart from that siesta block in the afternoon. If one is sleep deprived totally, no sleep that night or sleep restricted, the following day that rhythm will still be operating so one’s alertness will still improve throughout the day, but it will be a step lower than it usually is. If one then gets another night’s sleep deprivation or more sleep restriction, again the same will follow the next day. That rhythm will remain, but it will be a step lower. Sleep tends to become much more intense upon recovery. So when you are allowin
