Trouble Sleeping? Memory Could Suffer, Research Reveals

Most medical professionals would agree that a good night’s sleep is very important. In fact, according to recent research, some memory problems attributed to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease might not be caused by these conditions at all.

Research from Uppsala University, Sweden, found that sleep does not only help form long-term memory, but also helps to ensure access to it during times of cognitive stress.

In the study that was published in the scientific journal SLEEP, researchers investigated the role of nocturnal sleep duration for this memory transfer, and how long-term memories formed by sleep remain accessible after stressful episodes.

In one experiment, subjects slept for half a night (4 hours) and in the other for a full night (8 hours). The next morning, subjects were asked to recall as many card pair locations on a computer screen they observed the previous night. What the researchers found was that half a night of sleep was as powerful as a full night of sleep to form long-term memories for the learned card pair locations.

However, the study also revealed that stress had an impact on the participants’ ability to recall these memories by about 10 percent. In contrast, no such stress-induced impairment was seen when the same subjects were allowed to sleep for a full night.

For more information about this research, visit http://www.uu.se/en/media/press-releases/press-release/?id=2778&area=3,8&typ=pm&lang=en. 

 

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Problems with Sleep Apnea May Date Back to Youth

Many seniors who suffer through sleepless nights in old age may find the root of their problem goes back to a very early age – when they were emotionally abused by their parents.

An analysis of data from 877 adults age 60 years and above found that early parental emotional abuse was associated with a higher number of sleep complaints in old age, according to a research article in an issue of the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences.

It was specifically emotional abuse rather than physical abuse or emotional neglect that was tied to trouble in getting a good night’s sleep.

The data was taken from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. In 1995, approximately 3,500 adults responded to questions about their childhood. A decade later, they were asked follow-up questions about sleep, relationships and emotional distress. The study looked at the answers from those 60 and older.

During the second round of interviews, the participants were asked how often within the previous 30 days they had trouble falling asleep; woke up during the night and had difficulty going back to sleep; woke up too early in the morning and were unable to get back to sleep; and
felt unrested during the day no matter how many hours of sleep they had.

Emotional abuse was assessed by asking participants how often their mother and father insulted or swore at them, sulked or refused to talk to them, stomped out of the room, did or said something to spite them, threatened to hit them, or smashed or knocked something in anger.

Regardless of the root of your mom’s problems, one thing you can do to help put your mother at ease during the night is to encourage her to hire a professional caregiving service. CAREGivers^SM from the local Home Instead Senior Care^® office are screened, trained, bonded and insured, and prepared to assist an older adult any time, day or night. A CAREGiver can give you the confidence that your mother is safe as well.

For more about the study, go to http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/66B/3/307.abstract.