Drivers & Capacity
External evidence synthesis · Supporting · 2024
After one restricted night, sustained attention worsened while several complex cognitive functions did not
Across 44 studies of healthy adults allowed only two to six hours for sleep for one night, participants became substantially sleepier and performed worse on sustained-attention tasks. The meta-analysis found no statistically significant deterioration in working memory, inhibitory control, or cognitive throughput.
Research basis
Systematic review and meta-analysis. Healthy adults in 44 experimental studies of a single night of partial sleep restriction.
What it supports
A near-term effect of one restricted night on sleepiness and sustained attention.
Boundary
The result concerns one experimentally restricted night. It does not establish persistent capacity loss, workplace-performance effects, or that complex cognition is unaffected by repeated sleep restriction.
BOL relevance
Demonstrates why acute state, measured endpoint, and longer-term capacity must remain distinct.
Source class
Peer-reviewed research
Role in BOL
Supporting
Population context
General adult population
Evidence basis
Conceptual or synthesized
Comparator
Restricted sleep versus the study control condition
Endpoint
Subjective sleepiness, sustained attention, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive throughput
Important null or boundary finding
Working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive throughput did not deteriorate significantly.
Source record checked 26 July 2026.