Impact of Varying Sleep Pressure on Daytime Sleep Propensity in Healthy Young and Older Adults.

ABSTRACT: Fixed sleep schedules with an 8 h time in bed (TIB) are used to ensure participants are well-rested before laboratory studies. However, such schedules may lead to cumulative excess wakefulness in young individuals. Effects on older individuals are unknown. We combine modelling and experimental data to quantify the effects of sleep debt on sleep propensity in healthy younger and older participants. A model of arousal dynamics was fitted to sleep data from 22 young (20-31 y.o.) and 26 older (61-82 y.o.) individuals (25 male) undertaking 10 short sleep-wake cycles during a 40 h napping protocol, following >1 week of fixed 8 h TIB schedules. Homeostatic sleep drive at the study start was varied systematically to identify best fits between observed and predicted sleep profiles for individuals a

SUBMITTER: de Haan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11755553 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature