Is Your Brain Sleepy?

It seems like at night that I can barely stay awake to watch any television or relax. I thought about this the other day and thought finding some current research on sleep related to the brain would be interesting to know. Here is what I found out. The bottom line is to get enough sleep so you can perform and function to the best of your ability.
~~ Sleep deprivation and sleep habits do correlate with academic grades. A study out of Worcester, MA, shows that students who received low grades (C's, D's, F's), obtained about 25 minutes less sleep and went to bed an average of 40 minutes later on school nights than students with high grades (A's and B's). Adolescents who slept less than 7 hours reported increased daytime sleepiness, depressed mood, and behavior problems. Wolfson, A. 1998. Child Development, Vol 69(4) 875-887.
~~Good news from the Washoe Sleep Disorders Clinic in Reno, Nevada (a good place for a sleep disorders clinic if you ask me:>). Short-term sleep deprivation does not impair cortical function. While it has been shown many times that long term sleep deprivation interferes with test taking, attention and task completion, apparently sleep deprivation for shorter periods of time do not. Binks, et.al, Sleep, 1999(May), V. 22(3), 328-334.