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If you lose a piece of an old memory from sleep deprivation, you are not going to magically get it back once you catch up on your sleep. It has happened to me when I pulled all-nighters. I just couldn't remember that friend's name or that old password.

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And you still don't remember that friends name?

> And you still don't remember that friends name?

Some information can be relearned. Some cannot. It would be relatively easy to discover the name of someone from your past (ask a coworker, check a yearbook). I think the better example in the parent’s comment is a lost password.

I changed the pin on my phone while I was in a sleep deprived state and had to erase it to recover from not knowing the pin after I finally slept.

I don't think you're relearning your friend's name so much as reminding yourself. You haven't lost the memory, you just can't bring it up in that moment. And given time you might remember. But it's a bad example like you said.

Maybe you should see a doctor if you're forgetting your friends' names.

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