To sleep or not to sleep?

[Anonymous]

Many polygraphers recommend that examinees get at least 6-7 hours of sleep the night before the test.

Does anybody know how the body would react in a test with significantly less sleep, say 3-4 hours?

[bushido71]

I am curious myself to know if there is any empirical data that suggests how an exam would be affected by a lack of sleep.

My completely uneducated guess would be that the body could react at extremes on both ends of the stress scale. Since an unrested person is often easily mentally agitated, it would seem that you could show reactions to questions that otherwise would not bother you. On the other hand, since an unrested person would not likely be as alert, s/he may not react at all to certain questions out of sheer fatigue.

[George W. Maschke]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no scientific research on the effects of sleep (or lack thereof) on polygraph examinations.

I think it would be prudent to go into any polygraph examination 1) well rested, and 2) well informed.