Sleep duration and regularity → Cognitive performance
Cut sleep, cut attention. The meta is large; the leap to 'sleep your way to a title' is not in it.
Meta-analysis · High confidence
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Still read the caveats.
Mechanism
Lim and Dinges (2010) aggregated short-term deprivation studies and found reliable losses on vigilance and working memory. The identified object is time asleep. This atlas will not let that smuggle income, mate value, or leadership.
Caveats
A meta of acute protocols is not a career RCT. Recovery sleep reverses much of the deficit. Chronic restriction and shift work are related exposures, not this estimate.
Effect
qualitative. Attention and working memory degrade under short-term deprivation; the object is hours, not a stack.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Sleep duration and regularity → Cognitive performance.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-sleep-cognition (atlas updated 2026-08-31).
Papers
- A meta-analysis of the impact of short-term sleep deprivation on cognitive variables
J. Lim, D. F. Dinges · 2010 · Psychological Bulletin