Sleep loss will result in performance deficits, including increased variability in performance, slowed physical and mental reaction time, increased errors, decreased vigilance, impaired memory, and reduced motivation and laxity. There is no consensus on the extent of impairment resulting from a given amount of sleep loss.
Depending on the performance task measured, after 17-19 h of sustained wakefulness, decrements in task performance are equivalent to, or worse than, those seen at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%,(40) and about 20-25 h of wakefulness will result in performance decrements equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10% on some tasks. Generally, complex performance tasks seem to be more sensitive to the effects of sleep loss than simpler tasks.