Can a person "catch up" on sleep lost?

BRY2K

You can't make up for lost sleep. Our bodies try to catch up by making us sleep more and/or more deeply the following night. Chronic partial sleep loss of even two to three hours per night was found to have detrimental effects on the body, leading to impairments in cognitive performance, as well as cardiovascular, immune and endocrine functions. Sleep-restricted people also reported not feeling sleepy even though their performance on tasks declined. One scientist says, "Even though animals and humans may be able to adapt their sleep system to deal with repeated sleep restriction conditions, there could be negative consequences when this pattern is maintained over a long period of time,” said Turek. “This brings us back to the idea that repeated partial sleep restriction in humans has been linked to metabolic dysfunction and cardiovascular disease.” http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-07/nu-csd070207.php Apr 25 08, 4:27 PM