Adequate sleep is an important factor to ensure the healthy functioning of the body. A type of chronic sleep diseases characterized by insufficient sleep can be collectively referred to as sleep deprivation （SD）， which is divided into primary and secondary sources in terms of sources. As one of the most frequent types of diseases in recent years， SD has received more and more attention and attention from the whole society. SD can have a wide-ranging and far-reaching impact on cognitive behavior， such as decreased wakefulness， decreased alertness， and inattention， decreased sensory perception， decreased learning and memory capabilities， et al， involving the impact on multiple system functions of the human body， and It is closely related to the occurrence of many diseases， and may cause serious troubles to the normal life of patients and even their relatives and friends. The cognitive impairment caused by SD has been fully verified in clinical tests and various animal behavior experiments， mainly involving pathological damage such as changes in synaptic plasticity， enhanced endoplasmic reticulum stress， circadian rhythm disorders， and energy metabolism imbalance. Western medicine treatments for SD mostly have negative factors such as high side effect and strong addiction. However， Chinese medicine intervention focuses on the overall concept， has long-lasting effectiveness， significant effects， and mild side effects. It has also been widely recognized clinically for improving the complications of sleep disorders. This article reviews the current status and classification of SD research， its pathological mechanisms that lead to cognitive impairment and its molecular-level exploration directions and results. In recent 5 years， the therapeutic effect and experience of traditional Chinese medicine intervention therapy such as compound Chinese medicine， acupuncture and moxibustion as well as auxiliary therapy such as exercise and five sounds， in order to further summarize and clarify the interaction mechanism between SD and cognitive behavior， and provide a theoretical basis for the study of the pathological mechanism of SD disease and future clinical treatment.