Insomnia and empathy

Insomnia can significantly affect your daytime functioning - most with chronic insomnia report daytime tiredness, concentration problems, and irritability. Here is an article about research presented at the annual Sleep meeting in Seattle. Researchers studied how insomnia levels affect healthcare workers ability to feel empathy for their patients. Workers with a sufficiently high insomnia scored demonstrated less empathy than those with lower insomnia scores. The article doesn't specify whether the healthcare workers had temporary insomnia, long term insomnia, or just sleep deprivation from rotating work and call schedules.