Sleep and Human Aging

Overview

Journal Neuron

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Neurology

Date 2017 Apr 7

PMID 28384471

Citations 384

Authors

Bryce A Mander

Joseph R Winer

Matthew P Walker

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Older adults do not sleep as well as younger adults. Why? What alterations in sleep quantity and quality occur as we age, and are there functional consequences? What are the underlying neural mechanisms that explain age-related sleep disruption? This review tackles these questions. First, we describe canonical changes in human sleep quantity and quality in cognitively normal older adults. Second, we explore the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that may account for these human sleep alterations. Third, we consider the functional consequences of age-related sleep disruption, focusing on memory impairment as an exemplar. We conclude with a discussion of a still-debated question: do older adults simply need less sleep, or rather, are they unable to generate the sleep that they still need?

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