Can sleep heal memory?

Sleep, cognition, and normal aging: integrating a half century of multidisciplinary research

Sleep is implicated in cognitive functioning in young adults. With increasing age, there are substantial changes to sleep quantity and quality, including changes to slow-wave sleep, spindle density, and sleep continuity/fragmentation. A provocative question for the field of cognitive aging is whether such changes in sleep physiology affect cognition (e.g., memory consolidation). We review nearly a half century of research across seven diverse correlational and experimental domains that historically have had little crosstalk. Broadly speaking, sleep and cognitive functions are often related in advancing age, though the prevalence of null effects in healthy older adults (including correlations in the unexpected, negative direction) indicates that age may be an effect modifier of these associations. We interpret the literature as suggesting that maintaining good sleep quality, at least in young adulthood and middle age, promotes better cognitive functioning and serves to protect against age-related cognitive declines.

[Sleep, learning and memory: relevance for psychiatry and psychotherapy]

BACKGROUND

Sleep has been identified as a state that optimizes the consolidation of newly acquired information in the memory. Sleep disturbances might essentially contribute to memory impairment in relevant psychiatric disorders, such as major depression and schizophrenia.

METHODS

This article provides a brief review of the latest research results on sleep and its association with memory consolidation.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Specific disturbances of sleep structure are associated with particular memory deficits in psychiatric patients. Effective treatment of sleep disorders should not only improve signs of sleep but should also heal associated memory impairments.