Don’t remember where you parked your car? Stop blaming it on old age or just writing yourself as “forgetful;” it may be because you suffer from sleep apnea!
A new study, the first of its kind, had subjects play a video game unique to the study (no Call of Duty here, folks, sorry!), through which scientists discovered that the disruption of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep that results from sleep apnea actually impairs a person’s spatial memory.
Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, this study, which builds on earlier studies using rodents to show the negative consequences that deprivation of REM sleep has on memory, is groundbreaking in that it is the first ever to document the detrimental effects that sleep apnea has on spatial memory in people. The results proven of the link between REM sleep and people’s spatial memory were found to be consistent even when other sleep stages were unaffected.
Research showed that those whose REM stage of sleep was disrupted due to sleep apnea took longer to complete a 3D maze than those whose wasn’t. This brings to light the information that sleep apnea can affect the ability in people to form new spatial memories – i.e. where they have parked their car.
The study took place at NYU Langone Medical Center, and was headed by Andrew Varga, MD, PhD, attending physician in NYU’s Sleep Disorders Center, and clinical instructor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at NYU Langone. Varga points out that this study reveals for the first time the negative impact that sleep apnea might have on the formation of certain memories.
These findings will hopefully encourage doctors to begin to screen patients for memory loss and forgetfulness as possible additional symptoms of sleep apnea. But, you don’t need to wait for a doctor; if you are finding yourself suffering from forgetfulness and memory loss, or any other symptoms of sleep apnea, you can get tested now, in the comfort of your own home!
Source: The Journal of Neuroscience, 29 October 2014, 34(44): 14571-14577; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3220-14.2014
