Aging and sleep: Making changes for brain health

As a neuropsychologist, my research interests have focused on the link between sleep and cognitive health. As I have gotten older, I have personally come to appreciate the restorative power of a good night’s sleep for thinking, memory, and functioning at my best. Sleep affects our overall health, including our hormones and immune system. Neurobiological processes that occur during sleep have a profound impact on brain health, and as a result, they influence mood, energy level, and cognitive fitness. Numerous studies have shown that structural and physiological changes that occur in the brain during sleep affect capacity for new learning, as well as the strength of memories formed during the day. Sleep promotes the consolidation of experiences and ideas; it plays a pivotal role in memory, and has been shown to enhance attention, problem solving, and creativity. Specific sleep stages are associated with different types of learning Over the course of each night sleep unfolds in five different cycles which alternate throughout the night. These include rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM stages. REM is the stage when dreaming occurs. This stage of sleep is associated with active eye movements and body paralysis, which assures that a sleeping person is protected from acting out the dream. During REM there is increased activity in limbic structures involved in memory and emotional regulation, whereas there is less activity in frontal brain systems involved in analytic thinking. F...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Brain and cognitive health Healthy Aging Sleep Source Type: blogs