Don’t let a nap time pass by without taking advantage of it! A new research suggests that people who are deprived of sleep may put themselves and even others, at the risk when they make split-second decisions.

US researchers studied 49 US military cadets and found that sleep deprivation affected information integration–a process that largely depends on instantaneous and gut-feeling decisions. The study showed that moderate sleep deprivation can cause overall immediate loss of information-integration thought processes.

In a university news release, Todd Maddox, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin said, “It’s important to understand this domain of procedural learning because information-integration — the fast and accurate strategy — is critical in situations when soldiers need to make split-second decisions based about whether a potential target is an enemy soldier, a civilian or one of their own.”

People whose jobs often include making split second decisions are firefighters and police officers. People who have such jobs should get enough sleep and rest.

(via Health Day)