Overview
- Coverage published May 31–June 1 brought interviews with sleep specialists who reiterated long‑standing research that chronic short sleep sharply degrades cognitive performance.
- Nuria Roure summarized the effect by saying habitual sleep under six hours can reduce cognitive capacity by as much as about 30 percent, a figure presented as an expert synthesis rather than a single study result.
- Scientists explain the harms as loss of prefrontal cortex control—reducing attention, working memory and processing speed—and greater influence of reward circuits that increase impulsive choices.
- Specialists warn many people fail to notice the slow decline in function and instead blame stress, age or busy schedules, which can let the problem persist unnoticed.
- Practical, evidence‑aligned steps offered by experts include keeping regular sleep times, aligning sleep with natural circadian windows, and cutting evening screen and bright‑light exposure to improve sleep quality and daytime thinking.