Findings suggest an additive effect of sleep deprivation to cold exposure in attention and reaction time, and a trend toward this pattern in aspects of executive functioning. These findings raise concern for errors when careful attention and speeded cognitive flexibility are necessary and optimal sleep and protection from the environment is not possible. Mechanisms are not entirely clear, but may be related to transient cerebrovascular or neurochemical changes, or direct physiological effects. Further work is needed to clarify mechanisms for the additive cognitive decline associated with cold exposure and sleep deprivation.
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