Disrupted Sleep in Your 30s & 40s May Impact Memory & Cognition Later

People who experience disrupted sleep in their 30s and 40s may face memory and thinking problems a decade later, according to a recent study published in the journal Neurology. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco examined the sleep duration and quality of 526 participants over an 11-year period. The participants, with an average age of 40, wore wrist activity monitors to track their sleep patterns, revealing an average of six hours of sleep each night. The study found that the quality of sleep, rather than the quantity, was most closely associated with cognitive health in middle age. Those with more disrupted sleep had over twice the odds of experiencing poor cognitive performance later in life. The research highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between sleep problems and cognition early in life, particularly as signs of Alzheimer’s disease can begin to accumulate in the brain decades before symptoms appear. Further research is needed to explore the link between sleep disturbances and cognition at different stages of life.