― R E S E A R C H ―
The importance of REM sleep Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is a specific sleep phase characterised by intense brain activity similar to that observed during wakefulness but during which the body’s muscles are highly inhibited, with the exception of respiratory and eye muscles. Received wisdom up until 2001 was that memory was organised during REM sleep. Later, most people held that declarative memory happened during deep slow sleep and that procedural memory was formed during REM sleep. However, REM sleep has come to the fore again since 2018; it is this phase that facilitates all the various mechanisms for memorisation and the regulation of stress and emotions: the key components of our mental and physical wellbeing, in other words. Successive slow, deep and REM sleep cycles also play a crucial role. What happens to sleep when diseases occur? Most research into sleep disorders and dementia has been done in relation to Alzheimer’s disease. 25-35% of Alzheimer’s patients suffer from such disorders, with prolonged nighttime periods of wakefulness resulting in fragmented sleep and the decrease or disappearance of deep slow sleep and changes in REM sleep. Levels of beta-amyloid (a protein that forms naturally in the brain) in interstitial brain fluid increase during sleep deprivation, so a disrupted wake-sleep cycle could play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. During deep slow sleep, research suggests an increase in the volume of the interstitial space and convective exchanges of cerebrospinal fluid, facilitating the elimination of potentially neurotoxic waste such as beta-amyloid, which builds up in the nervous system while we’re awake. This is why fragmented sleep is so harmful.
Picture - ©Bret Kavanaugh
Picture - ©Viad Sargu
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