REM Sleep Misfires: Intruding Delta Waves Forecast Tau, Amyloid, and Forgetting in Aging.

ABSTRACT: Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep degrades with age, and more severely in Alzheimer's disease (AD). REM sleep comprises about twenty percent of adult sleep, alternates between phasic and tonic periods, and includes delta waves (1-4Hz) in two forms: fast sawtooth waves and slower, NREM-like waves, whose expression dynamically varies across REM periods. Yet, the functional relevance of these REM sleep delta waves remains unknown. Here, using two independent cohorts, we show that aging is associated with a shift from fast sawtooth to slow NREM-like delta waves, particularly during phasic REM sleep-a period typically marked by high cortical activation. Beyond chronological age, this shift is associated with amyloid-beta and tau burden, suggesting that AD pathology disrupts REM-specific oscillator

SUBMITTER: Desel T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12393412 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature