Sleep loss warning

SLEEPING for less than seven hours a night isn’t only bad for one’s health, it also alters the ability to make decisions that affect the lives and safety of others, according to new research.

Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research found sleep deprivation impairs the ability to integrate emotion and cognition to guide moral judgments.

Their findings, published today in the journal, Sleep, may have implications for those in occupations that frequently require periods of extended sleep loss and in which real-world moral dilemmas may be met, such as emergency medical services, soldiers in combat and firefighters.