Being woken in the middle of the night 'is comparable to being drunk'

People feel groggier when they are woken up during the night rather than during a kip in the afternoon, new research has found.

The Washington Post claims the findings could have implications for people who need to be alert when they are roused during the night, such as on-call doctors.

Researchers found people were nearly four times as groggy if they were woken during the night, compared to if they were woken during the day.

They also found people showed the least thinking impairment on waking up in the day.

Lead author of the report Frank Scheer said when someone is woken during the night "the cognitive impairment can be more detrimental than staying awake all night and has been shown to be comparable to the effects of alcoholic intoxication".

Meanwhile, a report by psychologist and sleep researcher Michael Gradisar has revealed kids struggle with complex activities after getting less than eight hours sleep a night, the Age has reported.

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