Theory 76/Field programme/Sleep restriction
Performance Tracks Debt
The claim
Cognitive performance under sleep restriction tracks cumulative sleep debt more than nightly duration, so a stable short sleep is worse than a variable one with the same mean.
01Mechanism
Debt accumulates when sleep is below requirement and is only repaid by recovery sleep.
02Prediction
Performance should track the integral.
03Refutation
Performance tracking nightly duration would remove accumulation.