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Review
. 2025 Mar 19;113(6):817-837.
doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.02.004. Epub 2025 Mar 6.

The night's watch: Exploring how sleep protects against neurodegeneration

Samira Parhizkar  1 , David M Holtzman  2
Affiliations
Review

The night's watch: Exploring how sleep protects against neurodegeneration

Samira Parhizkar et al. Neuron. .

Abstract

Sleep loss is often regarded as an early manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases given its common occurrence and link to cognitive dysfunction. However, the precise mechanisms by which sleep disturbances contribute to neurodegeneration are not fully understood, nor is it clear why some individuals are more susceptible to these effects than others. This review addresses critical unanswered questions in the field, including whether sleep disturbances precede or result from neurodegenerative diseases, the functional significance of sleep changes during the preclinical disease phase, and the potential role of sleep homeostasis as an adaptive mechanism enhancing resilience against cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; inflammation; neurodegeneration; sleep; slow-wave activity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests D.M.H. is as an inventor on a patent licensed by Washington University to C2N Diagnostics on the therapeutic use of anti-tau antibodies, US patent no. 9,834,596. D.M.H. co-founded and is on the scientific advisory board of C2N Diagnostics. D.M.H. is on the scientific advisory boards of Denali, Genentech, and Cajal Neuroscience and consults for Asteroid, Pfizer, and Roche.

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