Sleep deprivation is increasingly recognized as a global public health problem as researchers have found that lack of sleep impairs human functioning[2] . It has been found that most people are sleep deprived as they are forced to limit their sleeping hours to compensate for increased working hours, especially people whose professions are aligned with healthcare sectors, of security and transport as they are often required to be on duty even at night [1]. Regardless of whether the individual was totally or partially sleep deprived, both were shown to have negative effects on the human body[3]. Further studies have revealed that sleep deprivation affects cognitive and motor performance, as well as mood[2]. One of the effects of sleep deprivation is the deterioration of cognitive performance[1,2,3]. Sleep deprivation interferes with the frontal lobes of the brain causing lapses in attention and momentary distraction, resulting in decreased alertness and attention[1,2]. The results confirmed that subjects performed worse on long, simple and monotonous vigilance tasks[1]. A possible explanation for why subjects were more prone to errors in repetitive tasks may be due to a decrease in reaction time and accuracy as prolonged wakefulness continued[3]. Another important discovery was that lack of sleep disturbs subjects' reasoning ability and creativity[1]. Although some research indicates that sleep deprivation of 45 hours or less is sufficient to cause these effects on cognitive performance, some researchers argue that a waking period of 46 hours or less is too little to show a significant effect[2]. Therefore, further work is needed to establish this[1,2,3]. Not only does sleep deprivation impair cognitive performance, studies...... half of paper ......mple of participants, the results clearly suggest that sleep deprivation affects an individual's cognitive and motor performance, as well as on mood[1,2,3]. It can be concluded that the overall performance of a sleep-deprived individual is worse than that of someone who has had sufficient rest[3]. However, further research is needed to establish a greater degree of accuracy and understanding on this topic[1,2,3].Works Cited1. Alhola P, Polo-Kantola P. Sleep deprivation: impact on cognitive performance. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment. 2007; 3(5):553-567.2. Huffcutt AI, Pilcher JJ. Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: A meta-analysis. Sleep. 1996; 19(4):318-326.3. Maddox WT, Glass BD, Wolosin SM, Savarie ZR, Bowen C, Matthews MD, Schnyer DM. The effects of sleep deprivation on information integration categorization performance. Sleep. 2009; 32(11):1439-1448