-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Suresh Kotagal, Peering beyond hypersomnia and cataplexy of childhood narcolepsy: the role of sleep-dependent memory consolidation, Sleep, Volume 48, Issue 2, February 2025, zsae261, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae261
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
Instability in night sleep due to alterations in rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep is common in children with narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). It is suspected, but not definitely known that this perturbation of night sleep in NT1 adversely affects learning and behavior. Unfortunately, standard neuropsychological test batteries fail to capture changes in sleep-dependent memory consolidation, which is fundamental to learning. Memory consolidation is the process of converting short-term memories (stored mainly in the hippocampus) to stable, long-term memories that are stored in various association areas of the neocortex. Sleep-dependent memory consolidation relies on the stability of night sleep and that of the sleep spindle architecture. The community of parents, schoolteachers, psychosocial workers, and sleep specialists has done well in identifying comorbidities of NT1 like obesity, precocious puberty, anxiety, and autonomic dysfunction. However, the assessment of memory function in this population has remained a closed “black box,” with few systematic studies. Insufficient awareness of the neuropsychological consequences of narcolepsy, the limited availability of skilled neuropsychologists, and of testing paradigms that control for multiple variables like age, gender, degree of sleepiness, circadian influences on alertness, and medication effects have together contributed to this knowledge gap. It is also possible that the somewhat monotonous tasks required in neuropsychological testing are not interesting enough to engage sleepy children [1].
Comments