SHR # 2540 :: The Link Between the Gut and Death by Sleep Deprivation - Dr. Alexandra Vaccaro - Dr. Yosef Kaplan Dor - Prof. Dragana Rogulja - The first signs of insufficient sleep are universally familiar. There's tiredness and fatigue, difficulty concentrating, perhaps irritability or even tired giggles. Far fewer people have experienced the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation, including disorientation, paranoia and hallucinations. Total, prolonged sleep deprivation, however, can be fatal. While it has been reported in humans only anecdotally, a widely cited study in rats conducted by Chicago-based researchers in 1983 showed that a total lack of sleep inevitably leads to death. Yet, despite decades of study, a central question has remained unsolved: why do we die when we don't sleep?