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Sleep debt

Accumulated short sleep, which degrades impulse control, risk judgement, and self-assessment - while leaving you feeling roughly normal.

Short sleep has a specific effect profile. Reaction time suffers a little, but the larger losses are in inhibition and risk evaluation: tired people take bigger risks, respond more strongly to rewards, and discount losses more. That is a precise description of a bad trading day.

The cruel part is that self-assessment degrades alongside performance, so the deficit is invisible from the inside. This is why a sleep field in a behaviour-journal is more useful than a subjective readiness rating.

Treat it as a risk parameter rather than a lifestyle matter. Under a defined threshold, trade smaller or not at all. Overnight sessions and early opens in distant time zones deserve a written rule, because that is exactly when the judgement to make one is missing.

Related: decision-fatigue, burnout, behaviour-journal, pre-market-routine

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.