Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Meibergdreef 33, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Exp Gerontol. 2000 Dec;35(9-10):1229-37. doi: 10.1016/s0531-5565(00)00191-1.
The incidence of disturbed sleep is strongly increased in healthy and demented elderly. Age-related alterations in the circadian timing system appear to contribute strongly to these problems. With increasing age, a lack of input to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the biological clock of the brain, may accelerate de-activation of neurons involved in the generation of 24-h rhythm or output of this rhythm. This process appears to be reversible, since supplementation of stimuli that impinge on the SCN can re-activate these neurons and ameliorate disturbances in the sleep-wake rhythm.
睡眠障碍在健康老年人和患有痴呆症的老年人中的发生率显著增加。昼夜节律系统中与年龄相关的变化似乎是导致这些问题的主要原因。随着年龄的增长，大脑生物钟视交叉上核（SCN）所接收的输入减少，这可能会加速参与24小时节律产生或该节律输出的神经元失活。由于补充作用于SCN的刺激可以重新激活这些神经元并改善睡眠-觉醒节律紊乱，因此这一过程似乎是可逆的。
