Big Questions
Sleep, neural communication and health
Sleep is essential biology. Understanding its role in maintaining brain and body health begins with the processes that unfold each night.
Neural communication during sleep
Brain-wave patterns reflect communication among neural circuits. During sleep, this activity participates in memory consolidation, the regulation of connections between neurons, and emotional processing. How does the sleeping brain coordinate these essential functions?
Maintenance across the brain and body
Sleep supports the coordinated regulation, repair and maintenance of the brain and body. How do neural activity and these physiological processes work together during sleep? Understanding that relationship could clarify how sleep contributes to the maintenance of health.
Sleep, aging and neurodegeneration
Sleep changes across the lifespan. Which changes accompany healthy aging, and which are associated with accelerated aging or neurodegenerative disease? Could changes in sleep physiology reveal when health-maintaining processes begin to falter, before lasting damage occurs?