Interrupted sleep is harmful to memory

A new study by American scientists found that interrupted sleep will negatively affect the ability to form memories.

Sleep continuity plays an important role in forming memories. Photo: Telegraph

According to the BBC news agency, the findings published in the PNAS Journal of the National Academy of Sciences may help explain memory problems related to conditions such as Alzheimer's or sleep apnea.

A British sleep expert said, the brain uses deep sleep to assess the events of the day and decides what to retain. Researchers at Stanford University (USA) discovered that sleep disruption will make animals more difficult to recognize familiar objects.

Scientists have studied intermittent sleep in mice. They use a technique called optogenetics, in which certain cells are genetically arranged so they can be under the control of light.

The team has targeted a type of brain cell that plays a key role in switching between sleep and wake. They then send light pulses directly into the rat's brain when they sleep. This move aims to disrupt the sleep of mice but does not affect the total sleep time as well as the quality or nature of sleep.

The mice were then placed in a box with two objects that one of them had contacted before. Naturally, mice will spend more time exploring new objects, and mice that are not interrupted by sleep have shown that. However, the rats that were disturbed to sleep in the experiment showed interest in both of the same objects, revealing that their memory was affected.

Dr. Luis de Lecea, head of the study, said: " Sleep continuity is one of the main factors affected in various pathological conditions and has an impact on memory, including both Alzheimer's disease and other age-related cognitive decline diseases ".

Intermittent sleep also affects alcoholics and people with sleep apnea syndrome. However, the researchers admit they still have no evidence of a causal link between interrupted sleep with any of the above medical conditions.