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Review
. 2019 Jul;16(3):554-568.
doi: 10.1007/s13311-019-00769-6.

Sleep as a Therapeutic Target in the Aging Brain

Thierno M Bah  1 , James Goodman  1 , Jeffrey J Iliff  2   3   4   5   6
Affiliations
Review

Sleep as a Therapeutic Target in the Aging Brain

Thierno M Bah et al. Neurotherapeutics. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Sleep is a behavioral phenomenon conserved among mammals and some invertebrates, yet the biological functions of sleep are still being elucidated. In humans, sleep time becomes shorter, more fragmented, and of poorer quality with advancing age. Epidemiologically, the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease is associated with pronounced sleep disruption, whereas emerging mechanistic studies suggest that sleep disruption may be causally linked to neurodegenerative pathology, suggesting that sleep may represent a key therapeutic target in the prevention of these conditions. In this review, we discuss the physiology of sleep, the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disease, and the current literature supporting the relationship between sleep, aging, and neurodegenerative disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Sleep; aging; cognitive decline; dementia; treatment..

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Conflict of interest statement

This study was not industry-supported and the authors declare that they have no financial conflicts of interest.

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