Staying awake for eighteen consecutive hours severely impairs your cognitive abilities and reaction times to the exact same degree as having a blood alcohol concentration of zero point zero five percent.

A closer look

Staying awake for eighteen consecutive hours severely impairs your cognitive abilities and reaction times to the exact same degree as having a blood alcohol concentration of zero point zero five percent. If you push that sleep deprivation to twenty-four hours, your impairment matches a BAC of zero point one zero percent, putting you well over the legal limit for drunk driving in every single state. Your exhausted brain starts experiencing micro-sleeps, shutting down entirely for brief seconds without you even noticing the lapse in consciousness. This means that hustle-culture fanatics who brag about functioning on three hours of sleep are essentially boasting about navigating their professional lives while legally intoxicated. It completely explains why your sleep-deprived emails to your boss read exactly like the chaotic texts you send your ex after four margaritas at two in the morning!