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Experiencing a good night of sleep does not overcome the poor functioning and thinking problems imposed by long-term sleep deprivation, a new study finds.

Previous studies have linked sleep deprivation with various health conditions including high blood pressure.

According to the study published in Science Translational Medicine, a good night of sleep can improve the short-term function, having no significant influence on the long-term performance of sleep deprived individuals.

"Chronic sleep loss from six hours of sleep per night for two weeks causes a similar level of impairment as staying awake for 24 hours," said lead researcher Daniel Cohen.

One long night of sleep can bring performance back to normal levels for about six hours after waking, masking the effects of chronic sleep loss for the rest of the day.

Staying awake for an extended period, however, is associated with dramatic deterioration of performance in these individuals. The reaction time is reported to become about 10 times slower in them, increasing the risk of accidents and errors.

"Individuals who get too little sleep during the work or school week but try to catch up on weekends may not realize that they are accumulating a chronic sleep debt," concluded Elizabeth Klerman, an Associate Professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at BWH, urging individuals involved in jobs such as driving, surgery and etc. to pay more attention to their sleep schedule.