Disruptions in sleep can be more than just unhealthy, they can be dangerous. Lack of sleep is thought to play a role in up to 30% of all motor vehicle crashes and even implicated in catastrophic events, such as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. As sleepy individuals are often unaware of their performance impairments, there is a critical need for objective measures of deficits due to sleepiness to prevent accidents. New research in the The Journal of Physiology shows that a range of eye-movement tests can help identify people at risk, and may even distinguish sleep impairment from alcohol impairment.

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