Sleep disturbance, memory dysfunction, plaque and Alzheimer's Disease are linked

by Jay Gunkelman - February 2, 2013

The two links below are for papers that provide a link between sleep disturbances in slow wave sleep and deposition of Alzheimer's Disease related plaque.

The second link provides the link with AD and disturbed sleep, with the first paper showing the impacts of aging and sleep on memory function.   Of interest in this area is the observation that tDCS mimicing the slow waves of sleep provides enhanced declarative memory function in current neuroscience, providing a tantilizing potential treatment approach for Mild Cognitive Decline for some graduate student to tackle as a project.  Thanks to MyBrainSolutions for bringing these papers to my attention.

 

http://www.nature.com/news/why-poor-sleep-and-forgetfulness-plague-the-ageing-brain-1.12303?utm_source=MyBrainSolutions+Monthly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=38314e5df8-Jan_2013_Newsletter_Week_5-1_30_2013&utm_medium=email

http://www.nature.com/news/disrupted-sleep-may-predict-alzheimer-s-1.11620