It’s not just about attention
A November 2019 study by Michigan State University found that,
“sleep deprivation doubles the odds of making placekeeping errors and triples the number of lapses in attention, which is startling,"
"Sleep-deprived individuals need to exercise caution in absolutely everything that they do, and simply can't trust that they won't make costly errors. Oftentimes - like when behind the wheel of a car - these errors can have tragic consequences."
"Our findings debunk a common theory that suggests that attention is the only cognitive function affected by sleep deprivation,"
"Some sleep-deprived people might be able to hold it together under routine tasks, like a doctor taking a patient's vitals. But our results suggest that completing an activity that requires following multiple steps, such as a doctor completing a medical procedure, is much riskier under conditions of sleep deprivation."
"There are some tasks people can do on auto-pilot that may not be affected by a lack of sleep. However, sleep deprivation causes widespread deficits across all facets of life."
Socioeconomic Status
In another November 2019 study by the University Centre of General Medicine and Public Health (unisanté), Lausanne, Switzerland, said:
"The absence of mediation by short sleep in women could be due to the weaker relationship between occupation and sleep duration compared to men."
"Women with low socioeconomic status often combine the physical and psychosocial strain of manual, poorly paid jobs with household responsibilities and stress, which negatively affects sleep and its health-restoring effects compared to men,"
"Structural reforms are needed at every level of society to enable people to get more sleep. For example, attempting to reduce noise, which is an important source of sleep disturbances, with double glazed windows, limiting traffic, and not building houses next to airports or highways."