Sleep deprivation is the weariness that accumulates when a character goes too long without rest, degrading thought, judgment, and physical coordination as surely as wounds or hunger. Travelers pushing through the night, sentries on extended watch, and prisoners denied a place to lie down all suffer from it, and unlike windedness it cannot be shaken off with a few minutes of recovery — only actual sleep clears the debt.
Symptoms
Heavy eyelids, frequent yawning, irritability, dulled reflexes, microsleeps (brief lapses of consciousness while standing or walking), poor short-term memory, and a clumsy, dragging gait. Speech grows terse and sometimes nonsensical.
Progression
After two days without sleep, hallucinations begin — flickers at the edge of vision, voices in the wind, faces in the shadows. After three days the victim may become genuinely psychotic, mistaking dreams for reality and reality for dreams. Prolonged sleeplessness can be fatal, though most victims collapse and sleep involuntarily long before that point.
Treatment
- Sleep — uninterrupted, in a safe and dark place, for as long as the body demands
- Avoid stimulants once an opportunity to rest exists; they only prolong the debt
- Water and a small meal before rest, never a large one
- Allow several nights of recovery sleep before counting the deficit truly repaid