Dick Swaab on aging: 'The clock in our brain'
Monday 6 February Dick Swaab, author of the bestseller ‘We are our brains’ is the honorary guest at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC). He will show a number of strategies designed to stimulate the circadian timing system in order to enhance the functionality of the clock in our brain.
Age-related decrease
Our brain produces biological rhythms of about a year, a month, a week and a day that are important for survival of the individual and the species. An age-related decrease in circadian modulation has been observed in many rhythms. Elderly people start napping during the day and often complain of disturbed sleep during the night.
Biological clock
In Alzheimer's disease, this fragmented sleep–wake pattern is even more pronounced. In aging, and even more so in Alzheimer's disease, a marked reduction in vasopressin, the main neuropeptide was found in the biological clock of the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus.
LIBC Sylvius lecture
Date and Time: Monday 6 February 2012, 5.00 pm
Location: Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Pieter de la Court gebouw, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, room SC01
Summary: 'The clock in our brain: circadian rhythms, aging and Alzheimer's disease'