Chronic jet lag alters the brain in ways that cause memory and learning problems long after one’s return to a regular 24-hour schedule, according to research findings.
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Memory & Memory Loss
Dec
21
2010
Jet lagged and forgetful? It’s no coincidence
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Image via Wikipedia University of California Irvine researchers have identified a novel mechanism in the brain that boosts memory. In collaboration with scientists at Germany’s University of Munster, the UCI team found that a small protein called neuropeptide S can strengthen and prolong memories of everything from negative events to simple objects. Tweet
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When it comes to executing items on tomorrow’s to-do list, it’s best to think it over, then “sleep on it,” say psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis.
People who sleep after processing and storing a memory carry out their intentions much better than people who try to execute their plan before getting to sleep.
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A research abstract presented at Sleep 2009 demonstrates that sleep selectively preserves memories that are emotionally salient and relevant to future goals when sleep follows soon after learning. Effects persist for as long as four months after the memory is created.
Results show the sleeping brain seems to calculate what’s most important about an experience and then selects only what is adaptive for consolidation and long-term storage. Across delays of 24 hours, or even three-to-four months, sleeping soon after learning preserved the trade-off as compared to waiting an entire day before going to sleep.
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Research on the sleeping brain has revealed some fascinating stage-dependent interactions between areas involved in formation and storage of long term memories. The study, published by in the the journal Neuron, may also provide a framework for further understanding the role of sleep in memory.
Mammalian sleep occurs in two discrete stages, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. One of the many ways in which SWS and REM sleep differ is in the level of synchronous firing in the hippocampus. Previous research has suggested that coordinated activity between the hippocampus?a brain area critical for memory formation where long-term memories are stored?—?may be critical for memory formation.
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Research on the sleeping brain has revealed some fascinating stage-dependent interactions between areas involved in formation and storage of long term memories. The study may also provide a framework for further understanding the role of sleep in memory.
Mammalian sleep occurs in two discrete stages, slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep. One of the many ways in which SWS and REM sleep differ is in the level of synchronous firing in the hippocampus.
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Did you ever argue with your mother when she told you to get some sleep instead of pulling an all-nighter to study for a major exam? If you did, you should apologize to her, even now — years later — because she was right!. Scientists are just now beginning to understand why.
Research findings published by Marcos Frank, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, describe how cellular changes in the sleseping brain promote the formation of memories.
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A study published in the July 1, 2008, issue of the journal Sleep provides visual evidence of the severe structural damage that occurs in numerous regions of the brain in people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Results show that obstructive sleep apnea patients have extensive alterations in “white matter,” nerve tissue in the brain containing fibers that are insulated with myelin — a white, fatty sheath. These structural changes appear both in brain regions that have functional importance for characteristics such as mood, memory, and cardiovascular regulation; and in fiber pathways interconnecting these regions.
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Got memory problems? If you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, your brain could be to blame. UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain centers that help store memory.
Reported in the June 27 edition of the journal Neuroscience Letters, the findings emphasize the importance of early detection of the disorder, which afflicts an estimated 20 million Americans.
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