NYT: How Little Sleep Can You Get Away With? Not as much as you think you can

But they insisted they had adjusted to their new state. Even 14 days into the study, they said sleepiness was not affecting them. In fact, their performance had tanked. In other words, the sleep-deprived among us are lousy judges of our own sleep needs. We are not nearly as sharp as we think we are.

You just can't do without your sleep and perform well. Even if you think you can.