Study Ties Poor Sleep to Reduced Memory Performance in Older Adults

A new study from Georgia Tech University explores the correlation between sleep and memory retention, according to EurekAlert! . The study tested Atlanta-area adults over a seven-night period. They wore accelerometers on their wrists to sleep at night and then reported to Georgia Tech for memory tests measuring electroencephalography (EEG) brain wave activity. The researchers reaffirmed an existing conclusion that better sleep correlates with better memory retention in older adults. They also found that African-American participants of all ages reported lower scores on the memory tests after poor sleep. The study found that black adults get about 36 fewer minutes of sleep than adults of other races, leading to a 12 percent decrease in memory-related brain activity. The study concluded that getting sufficient sleep every night is a better system than trying to catch up on sleep on holidays and weekends.