“Using performance as a measure of sleep need is perilous in older adults, since older adults are already impaired in their reaction times to begin with. Said unkindly, older adults don’t have much further to fall in terms of getting worse, sometimes called a “floor effect,” making it difficult to estimate the real performance impact of sleep deprivation.”

“Using performance as a measure of sleep need is perilous in older adults, since older adults are already impaired in their reaction times to begin with. Said unkindly, older adults don’t have much further to fall in terms of getting worse, sometimes called a “floor effect,” making it difficult to estimate the real performance impact of sleep deprivation.”

— Matthew Walker