Feeling like Your Memory is Getting Worse? Not Sleeping Well Could Be the Culprit.

While it is normal for our memories to decline slightly as we get older, these studies show that people with a very common sleep disorder, known as sleep apnea, may suffer significant memory problems over time.

Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a blocked airway causes people to stop breathing temporarily during sleep, for 10 to 30 seconds, up to hundreds of times per night. It is estimated that over 18 million people in the US have sleep apnea. However it is considered to be highly under-diagnosed because many people don’t remember sleeping poorly during the night, and many doctors aren’t familiar with the condition.

Interestingly, new research studies show that sleep apnea affects the same area of the brain as Alzheimer’s disease and other memory-affecting conditions. In fact, people with Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss due to alcoholism, and sleep apnea all show very similar brain scans. All have shrunken mamillary bodies, which are the brain structures responsible for our memory. The brain scans show up to a 20% reduction in their size, which is disturbing to scientists. One of the researchers noted, "The reduced size of the mammillary bodies suggests that these people have suffered a harmful brain injury."¹

The good news is that diagnosing a sleep disorder is easy, and for sleep apnea sufferers is there is effective treatment available. Even better news is that the most effective treatment for sleep apnea, known as CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) has been show to help patients improve their memories, as well as improve their quality of life. So there may be more to your forgetfulness than you think. Not sleeping well has a host of negative effects on us, and memory loss can be one of the most frustrating. If you have symptoms of sleep apnea, such as snoring, gasping during sleep, sudden awakenings, or daytime sleepiness for no apparent reason, it is important that you get tested for sleep apnea. If you have any reason to be concerned about the quality of your sleep, the Aviisha Wellness Institute offers a “Sleep Well Quiz” which can help you determine if your sleep is healthy. The Sleep Well Quiz can be found at: http://www.aviisha.com/sleep-well/quiz. Dr. Avi, Director of Aviisha Medical Wellness Institute says, "Many patients assume that memory loss is something they should just simply accept, but it’s not. Getting diagnosed and treated for sleep disorders can not only improve the quality of your sleep and provide quick relief from fatigue, it also can improve your memory.”

1 Ronald Harper, professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, as reported in Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611071037.htm