Sleep-dependent memory consolidation in young and aged brains

Young children and aged individuals are more prone to memory loss than young adults. One probable reason is insufficient sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Sleep timing and sleepstage duration differ between children and aged individuals compared to adults. Frequent daytime napping and fragmented sleep architecture are common in children and older individuals. Moreover, sleep-dependent oscillations that play crucial roles in long-term memory storage differ among age groups. Notably, the frontal cortex, which is important for long-term memory storage undergoes major structural changes in children and aged subjects. The similarities in sleep dynamics between children and aged subjects suggest that a deficit in sleep-dependent consolidation contributes to memory loss in both age groups.