In experiments with student volunteers, the team found that overall, the fewer sleep students got, the less control they had when walking during a treadmill test. For students who pulled an all-nighter before the test, this gait control plummeted even further. The students were given no instruction on how much to sleep so that the researchers could record their natural sleep patterns. Cameras captured the students' walking, and specifically, the moment their heel struck the treadmill, compared with the beat of the metronome. "The results show that gait is not an automatic process, and that it can be affected by sleep deprivation," Krebs says.

Source: Hindustan Times November 01, 2021 02:00 UTC