Grant: Operating Grant: Mechanisms in Brain Aging and Dementia

Alzheimer's disease is associated with characteristic brain changes visible under the microscope including amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Genes play an important role in determining who develops these brain changes. However, individuals with identical ages and genetic risks can have vastly different burdens of amyloid and tangle pathology, and in turn identical burdens of pathology can lead to differing levels of cognitive impairment. This is due to varying resistance to the development of pathology and resilience to a given burden of pathology. There is increasing evidence from small studies that healthy sleep may contribute to both resistance and resilience. However, questions remain regarding which dimensions of healthy sleep are most important, and the mechanisms by which they act. To answer these questions, we will obtain detailed measurement of sleep brain wave activity ion 2600 older adults using a soft headband and smart wristwatch, and relate this to cognitive testing, brain scans, and blood markers of brain pathology and brain inflammation. This will lay the foundation for sleep- and brain inflammation-based approaches to enhancing resistance and resilience to Alzheimer's disease related brain changes, potentially impacting the lives of the millions of Canadians at risk for dementia.