The variable, task-dependent effects of sleep deprivation across working life still need our attention: in the laboratory, and beyond

As the global population of older adults grows, many are remaining in the workforce longer. Understanding how sleep deprivation affects this population is essential, particularly in high-risk industries or in occupations that may impact sleep timing and opportunity. While more than 20 years of evidence now shows us that healthy young adults exhibit substantial inter-individual and task dependent variability in their functional vulnerability to sleep loss, less is known about these patterns in older adults. Early evidence suggested that older individuals may be more tolerant of sleep loss relative to the vulnerability observed in younger adults, but whether this perceived resilience holds across different tasks remained unclear.

In this issue of SLEEPJ,...