Many nights of little sleep - fewer than six hours a night have worse effect on the brain than getting no sleep for two nights in a row, new research of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia shows.

The 48 participants in the study were divided into four groups that slept either four, six or eight hours a night for two weeks, or had no sleep for three days. The groups were monitored in a laboratory throughout the two weeks to ensure that they did not nod off or use caffeine.

They were assessed on a battery of mental and physiological tests periodically every day and were also asked to evaluate how tired they felt.

People sleeping less than eight hours a night were slower to react, less able to think clearly and perform simple memory tasks, the researchers report in the March issue of the journal Sleep. They also performed as poorly on certain tasks as the individuals evaluated after one or two nights of sleeplessness.

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