Alertness is the state of active
attention by high
sensory awareness such as being watchful and prompt to meet danger or emergency, or being quick to perceive and act. It is related to psychology as well as to physiology. A lack of alertness is a symptom of a number of conditions, including
narcolepsy,
attention deficit disorder,
chronic fatigue syndrome,
depression,
Addison's disease, or
sleep deprivation. Pronounced lack of alertness can be graded as an
altered level of consciousness. The word is formed from "alert", which comes from the Italian "all'erta" (on the watch, literally, on the height; 1618)