SLEEP LOSS WORSE THAN ALCOHOL FOR IMPAIRMENT, STUDY FINDS

Attention workaholics: Moderate sleep deprivation leaves you more
impaired than would drinking beyond the legally proscribed level of
alcohol intoxication, according to a new study.

Australian researchers found that staying awake more than 18 hours
daily -- a normal event for many workers, from entrepreneurs to truck
drivers -- slows reaction times more than drinking alcohol.

Accuracy in carrying out routine tasks was also significantly poorer
than when test subjects had a blood-alcohol level of 50 milligrams per
decilitre.

The longer the volunteers stayed awake, the worse they performed on
tests, falling below the abilities of those who would be forbidden to
drive.

"These findings reinforce the evidence that the fatigue of sleep
deprivation is an important factor likely to compromise performance of
speed and accuracy of the kind needed for safety on the road and in
other settings," Dr. Andrew Williamson of the school of psychology at
the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia, reports in today's
edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

He said that countries that set allowable blood-alcohol counts should
develop similar standards for fatigue.