The Society for Neuroscience recently released an article about the effects sleep deprivation has on the human brain. When the human brain loses focus, the frontal and parietal regions of the brain compensate by increasing attention. However, sleep-deprived people showed less activity in these areas of the brain, which lead to longer attention lapses because the brain enters a sleep-like state and becomes less responsive to sensory stimuli. So, if you plan on doing tasks that involve critical thinking, adequate rest is essential.