Cognitive reserve

• However, we often sleep less than we need.
• Needing less sleep is a consequence of our ancestors’ choices to remain awake longer — a behaviour that led to evolutionary benefits.

Less sleep needed: An ancestral gift

• Humans are outliers, however, needing sleep for only seven hours, far less than the predicted 9.55 hours of sleep for a primate with similar traits to ours.
• This ancestral choice to sleep less was worthwhile (although some speculate that it may also have had drawbacks).

Less sleep available: A modern misery

• We forgo sleep to pull an all-nighter in preparation for an exam or a meeting, binge-watch TV shows, conform to the sleeplessness trend of the modern culture or scroll through social media.
• Sleep is not a luxury for people who must face sleep disorders, socioeconomic sleep disparity, new parenthood or work obligations of pilots, health-care workers and others with irregular hours.
• Today it is the lack of sleep that is costly because sleep is essential.
• Sleep research pioneer Allan Rechtschaffen noted, “If sleep doesn’t serve an absolutely vital function, it is the biggest mistake the evolutionary process has ever made.”

Countermeasures against sleep deprivation

• Today, getting even an hour or two of extra sleep is challenging.
• But until policies change, how can we better cope with sleep loss?

Protective power of fitness

• Fitness was measured as the ability of the participants’ heart and lungs to supply oxygen and their muscles’ ability to use it while exercising.
• This is referred to as cardiorespiratory fitness, as opposed to muscular fitness.
• A higher VO₂peak indicates better fitness.
• Research has shown that people with higher cardiorespiratory fitness tend to have better brain connectivity and cognition.

Exercise caution

• Other healthy habits of fitter participants such as good sleep hygiene, higher cognitive reserve and healthy diet may have contributed to their better memory performance despite sleep loss.
• However, animal research has shown that aerobic exercise training — which increases cardiorespiratory fitness — can protect against the detriments of sleep deprivation.

• SAN FRANCISCO, March 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Space travel can be very challenging to the brain, prompting researchers affiliated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to examine computerized brain training.
• Results from a pilot study show brain training could help.
• Researchers have long known that blasting off into space can have adverse impacts on the brain, from the g-forces associated with liftoff and landing, to the radiation, microgravity, and isolation of space travel.
• In the Increasing Cognitive Ability/Reserve Using Software (ICARUS) pilot study, researchers recruited employees from the Johnson Space Center with characteristics (age, education, discipline) resembling the astronaut population.

• Compared with workers earning higher wages, sustained low-wage earners experienced significantly faster memory decline in older age.
• Klee and team reported at AAIC 2022 that:
  Both individual socioeconomic and area-level socioeconomic deprivation contribute to risk of dementia; area-level socioeconomic deprivation was associated with increased risk of dementia for those in very disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Kezios and team categorized study participants' history of low wages into those who (a) never earned low wages, (b) intermittently earned low wages or (c) always earned low wages, and then examined the relationship with memory decline over 12 years.
• The researchers found that, compared with workers never earning low wages, sustained low-wage earners experienced significantly faster memory decline in older age.

• Its normal to want to be optimistic and dismiss early signs and symptoms, but if memory lapses are consistent enough to cause concern, its best to be proactive and get help.
• We often hear from family members that theyve seen signs of concern that arent readily apparent in routine phone calls or quick visits.
• 10 Warning Signs of Memory Loss:
  Your loved one may struggle with recalling recent activities, information, conversations, and events.
• Today, Belmont Village owns and operates 33 communities with just under 5,000 units, with an additional 1000 units in development.