Helping others sleep better every night!
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Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment seems to improve cognitive functioning in patients with Alzheimer’s disease who also suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial conducted at the University of California, San Diego.
The study led by Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and one of the nation’s preeminent experts in the field of sleep disorders and sleep research in aging populations was published in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
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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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A link between normal sleep and healthy aging has been found, according to a research abstract presented at Sleep 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
The study, authored by Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, of the University of California at San Diego, and colleagues, focused on 2,226 women 60 years of age or older.
The study, authored by Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, of the University of California at San Diego, and colleagues, focused on 2,226 women 60 years of age or older.
Reports of use of sleeping aids, daytime somnolence, napping, sleep latency, sleep maintenance insomnia, early morning awakening, snoring, overall perceived sleep quality, and sleep duration were all assessed.
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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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People with obstructive sleep apnea have been reported to have increased markers of oxidative stress and exhibit architectural changes in their brain tissue in areas involved in learning and memory. Chronic intermittent hypoxia in rats produce similar neurological deficit patterns.
“Obstructive sleep apnea has been increasingly recognized as a serious and frequent health condition with potential long-term morbidities that include learning and psychological disabilities,” wrote David Gozal, M.D., professor and director of Kosair Children’s Hospital Research Institute at the University of Louisville, lead author of the article.
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A study recently published demonstrates that individuals diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may have hope of regaining cognitive functions once they begin treatment for the apnea.
Study results, published in the December 2006 issue of CHEST, show the majority of trial participants who suffered memory-impairment prior to treatment demonstrated normal memory performance after three months of optimal continuous positive airway pressure CPAP use.
A CPAP is a medical device, which, in the simplest of terms, is an air generator set to deliver a prescribed, constant flow of air, keeping the airway open and preventing apnea.
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