Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary widely in severity. This means it can happen over both short and long periods of time. Sleep is important because adequate sleep, or restful sleep, is essential for maintaining your overall health, brain performance, emotional regulation, and metabolic balance. Persistent sleep insufficiency can contribute to cognitive decline, emotional instability, and biological wear that has effects similar to accelerated aging. Scientific research demonstrates overwhelming evidence that inadequate sleep produces chronic consequences for overall health, ranging from attentional lapses to long-term neurodegenerative changes.
The human body and most living organisms depend on sleep for neural recovery. All known animals sleep or exhibit some form of sleep behavior, and the importance of sleep is self-evident for humans, as nearly a third of a person's life is spent sleeping. Sleep deprivation is common as it affects about one-third of the population.