Can sleep disorders impair memory?

Video Overview

Can sleep disorders impair memory? The answer to that question is yes. A variety of sleep disorders including obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, idiopathic hypersomnia can have memory implications. In these individuals who excessively sleep during the daytime memory may be impaired because of insufficient processing of information they receive during the day. In many situations when we are excessively sleep as well, we may do things without recollection. We believe this is microsleep. And during microsleep we may have no recollection of doing intricate reactivities. In the population with dementia, treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, this population has been showing to perhaps slow the progression of dementia. Disorders like insomnia, we see a reduction in memory and with resolution of insomnia, we see improvements in memory as well.