Grant: Team Grant: CCNA Phase III: Research Teams

It is now clear that people who sleep well have a lower risk of dementia. Moreover, among people with dementia, it is a common experience a night of "good" sleep is often followed by a good day whereas a night of "bad" sleep is followed by a bad day. But what about a "good" night of sleep is most important to preventing dementia and supporting memory and concentration? Duration? Quality? Dreams? Depth? This is a key question as we now have the ability to improve not only sleep duration, but also sleep quality and depth, using gentle sound stimulation, lifestyle interventions like exercise, and new medications. In this study, we will use wearable technologies to allow older adults to measure their own sleep duration, quality, depth and other characteristics, and we will relate this to brain scan measures of dementia-associated brain changes and to thinking and concentration. We will identify what aspects of good sleep are most important to preventing dementia and supporting cognitive resilience in the face of dementia. Then we will use wearable headbands that play soft auditory tones to enhance these features, with an ultimate goal of preventing dementia in those who don't yet have it, and promoting cognitive resilience in those who already do, so that every day is a "good" day.