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Deep sleep, memory formation go hand-in-hand. Scientists are also finding links to dementia | RCI

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Study found decrease in deep sleep associated with higher risk of dementia in people aged 60 and up

Shift workers sleeping at erratic hours. Students pulling all-nighters. Menopausal women tossing and turning in bed from hot flashes.

There are a host of reasons why people have periods of poor sleep. And anyone who’s endured back-to-back nights of sub-par slumber likely knows the result: Feelings of brain fog, grogginess or even memory issues.

In the short-term, those cognitive hiccups are usually manageable. Take new parents for instance, says a sleep scientist affiliated with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

It can be a couple of years of pretty serious sleep loss, and they still push through, said John Peever. But whether or not they could sustain that over many years, I think the answer to that question would be no.

A growing body of research points to clear links between deep sleep and memory formation and, on the flip side, the possibility of dire consequences when someone’s sleep quality erodes over time.

A new paper published in JAMA Neurology (new window) found even a one per cent reduction in deep sleep each year in individuals aged 60 and up was associated with a significantly higher risk of developing dementia.

The scientists looked at roughly 350 participants enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study (new window) — a long-term, multigenerational American research project — who completed two overnight sleep studies as part of the research.

During nearly two decades of follow-up, the team identified 52 cases of dementia among the participants. The researchers adjusted for other factors such as age, sex and sleeping medication use, and still found each percentage decrease in deep sleep per year was linked to a 27 per cent higher dementia risk.

That data couldn’t say whether the sleep decline caused the dementia — or which came first — but we do know sleep matters for our mental functioning.

Good sleep seems to be involved in so many things that are important for a healthy and well-functioning brain, noted lead researcher Matthew Pase, a sleep scientist from the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia.

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How lack of sleep could be affecting your memory | In-Depth

Back in 2005, Canadians averaged about eight hours of sleep a night. By 2013, that dropped to seven. Now about 40 per cent of Canadians are dealing with some kind of sleep disorder. Something about sleep keeps our bodies and minds from falling apart. The lack of it has been linked to obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and depression. Researchers are now discovering some fascinating things about how important sleep is to the way our brains store memories and learn things.

Research suggests poor sleep impacts cognition

The link between sleep and memory is a thread scientists have tugged on for centuries.

As far back as the mid-1700s, English philosopher David Hartley speculated (new window) that dream-filled sleep could be tied to the formation of memories inside the human brain. By the 1900s, modern researchers began to prove him right, showing how distinct sleep stages impact the process of memory development.

Evidence now suggests that sleep is important in the processing of newly acquired information and for the long-term storage of memory, neuroscientist and sleep researcher Matthew Walker wrote in 2009.

That evidence includes research from the last two decades suggesting just a day and a half without sleep is enough to disrupt someone’s ability to play a basic memory game (new window), or slow down their reaction times (new window)Another study (new window) involving American nurses found people who both under- or overslept — either five hours or less a night, or nine hours or more — showed worse performance on cognitive tests. The researchers estimated those groups were mentally two years older than their counterparts getting seven or eight hours of sleep each night.

Some research even suggests sleep deprivation mimics the feeling of being drunk, with one Australian research team (new window) likening a single day of sleep deprivation with the mental impairment of a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10 per cent.

By 2013, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared (new window) that insufficient sleep was a public health epidemic.

Yet the conversation around what constitutes a good night’s sleep — and how sleep impacts memory loss and formation — continues to shift.

While most people still get hung up on the total hours of shut-eye, modern sleep scientists say there’s growing consensus that the quality of your sleep matters even more.

Impact of ‘slow-wave sleep’

Whether you typically sleep for six hours a night, or need nine hours of shut-eye, everyone’s body goes through a cycle of sleep stages. Once you doze off, your body enters a light sleep, which usually only lasts a few minutes. Then your heart rate and body temperature drop as you head into deeper sleep.

Eventually, you hit the restorative period that scientists call slow-wave sleep.

That’s the specific sleep stage Pase’s team studied where people fall into the deepest slumber. It’s also thought to be a period when the brain repairs itself.

Dr. Brian Murray, a professor of neurology at the University of Toronto and head of the neurology division at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, said it’s a bit like rebooting a computer — giving it a chance to clear out stray signals. In the case of the human brain, that can mean removing misfolded protein garbage that builds up during waking hours.

<q data-attributes=””lang”:”value”:”fr”,”label”:”Français”,”value”:”html”:”This is critically important for neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s [and]Parkinson’s,”,”text”:”This is critically important for neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s [and]Parkinson’s,””>This is critically important for neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s [and] Parkinson’s, he said.

The connection between good quality sleep and that junk removal process has only recently been identified, added Murray.

The latest findings from Pase and his team build on that, suggesting slow-wave sleep loss may be a dementia risk factor that people can actually try to mitigate. But Pase stressed his research doesn’t prove getting less slow-wave sleep can cause dementia.

Aging and memory loss also go hand-in-hand with comorbidities — which can disrupt sleep — and might result in someone living long-term in environments that aren’t conducive to quality slumber like brightly-lit hospitals or care homes, he noted.

The question becomes: Is altered sleep the side effect of dementia itself? Or is altered sleep facilitating dementia? echoed Peever, the Canadian sleep scientist. <q data-attributes=””lang”:”value”:”fr”,”label”:”Français”,”value”:”html”:”Soa ‘chicken and the egg’ story that is always almost impossible to unravel.”,”text”:”Soa ‘chicken and the egg’ story that is always almost impossible to unravel.””>So a ‘chicken and the egg’ story that is always almost impossible to unravel.

Still, Peever said the paper offers another piece of the evolving puzzle.

What they’ve shown is, if you take all patients across time — those with dementia, and those without incident dementia — there is a decline in how much slow-wave sleep they experience, he said. But the decline in dementia patients was significantly greater.

Dr. Eric Zhou, an assistant professor in the division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, agreed the study was rigorous and compelling. The findings also fit into broader research linking poor sleep quality to an array of health issues, from stroke to cancer to mental health conditions.

You name the health problem, Zhou said, and chronically not getting enough sleep — or chronically not sleeping well — will accelerate your risk of developing it, or exacerbate the condition if you have it already.

Melatonin won’t help everyone’s sleep issues, experts say

The use of melatonin as a sleep aid has significantly increased over the past two decades, but experts say it isn’t a cure-all, and taking too much can cause health problems.

Challenges of studying sleep

Yet researching sleep, and showing clear cause-and-effect on various health issues, remains a distinct challenge. Sleep studies are notoriously difficult to run, time-consuming and often prohibitively expensive, Zhou noted. Ethically, scientists can’t randomly assign healthy adults to getting really miserable sleep, he said. Sleep studies also require a cumbersome step for participants: Staying in a lab overnight.

It’s not a blood draw, Zhou continued. It’s not one check of their pulse.

To really figure out the impacts of sleep on long-term memory loss, scientists also need a massive pool of people, and it’s almost impossible to gain funding to do complex sleep studies at a population level, Zhou said. Even decades-worth of data from hundreds of participants only gave Pase’s research team 52 dementia cases to analyze, he noted.

Pase himself agreed, and said the dual nature of his research presented an additional challenge.

The thing about dementia is, although it’s common in a population, everyone’s chance of getting it at any given time is kind of low. So, it’s a difficult thing to study.

The bottom line is that emerging research linking sleep and memory loss may be persuasive, but it’s not conclusive, Peever stressed. It’s worth striving for better sleep, he added, but there’s also no reason to panic: The vast majority of the population experiences a deterioration in sleep quality over time for reasons scientists don’t fully understand.

So clearly, sleep quality — as it declines with age — is not causing dementia in everybody.

 

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What’s the greatest holiday gift: lips, hair, skin? Give the gift of great skin this holiday season

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Give the gift of great skin this holiday season

Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting

Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.

In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.

“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.

There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.

Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.

Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.

In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.

 

Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.

Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Pediatric group says doctors should regularly screen kids for reading difficulties

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The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.

New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.

The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.

Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.

Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.

“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.

“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”

McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.

But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.

The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.

He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.

“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.

“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.

McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”

McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.

He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.

“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

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