Project Grant F31AG099678

THE IMPACT OF OVARIAN HORMONES ON SLEEP-DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULT WOMEN - PROJECT SUMMARY POOR EMOTIONAL MEMORY PROCESSING IS LINKED TO MOOD DISORDERS, WHICH INCREASES COGNITIVE DECLINE, INCLUDING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. SLEEP HAS ALSO BEEN IMPLICATED IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND PROGRESSION OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND IS ESSENTIAL FOR EMOTIONAL MEMORY CONSOLIDATION. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN A NEGATIVE BIAS IN EMOTIONAL MEMORY CONSOLIDATION IN YOUNG ADULTS, WHICH APPEARS TO REVERSE IN OLDER INDIVIDUALS. WOMEN, WHO TYPICALLY LIVE LONGER THAN MEN, FACE UNIQUE CHALLENGES RELATED TO MOOD DISORDERS AND SLEEP DISTURBANCES THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES, INFLUENCED IN PART BY OVARIAN STEROID HORMONES. UNDERSTANDING THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN HORMONES, SLEEP, AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY PROCESSING IS CRUCIAL, GIVEN THE IMPLICATIONS FOR MOOD DISORDERS, COGNITIVE DECLINE, AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. WHILE IT IS KNOWN THAT WOMEN EXPERIENCE HORMONAL FLUCTUATIONS THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES, THE SPECIFIC INFLUENCE OF OVARIAN HORMONES ON SLEEP-DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY CONSOLIDATION IS UNKNOWN. THUS, MY OVERARCHING GOAL IS TO EXAMINE THESE CONNECTIONS, PARTICULARLY FOCUSING ON HOW OVARIAN HORMONES IMPACT SLEEP AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS ACROSS WOMEN'S LIFESPANS. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SLEEP-DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY AND OVARIAN HORMONES IN BOTH YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULT FEMALES. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT A HIGHER PROGESTERONE TO ESTROGEN RATIO WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH MORE NEGATIVE AND LESS POSITIVE SLEEP-DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY. THE PROJECT WILL ADDRESS TWO SPECIFIC AIMS. AIM 1 IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER SLEEP-DEPENDENT PROCESSING OF NEGATIVE MEMORIES IS ASSOCIATED WITH OVARIAN HORMONE CONCENTRATIONS IN HEALTHY FEMALES. AIM 2 IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER SLEEP- DEPENDENT PROCESSING OF POSITIVE MEMORIES IS ASSOCIATED WITH OVARIAN HORMONE CONCENTRATIONS IN HEALTHY FEMALES. TO ADDRESS THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND PREVENT CARRYOVER EFFECTS FROM MIXED EMOTIONAL STIMULI, TWO EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED, FOCUSING ON NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE MEMORY CONSOLIDATION SEPARATELY. USING A WITHIN-SUBJECTS DESIGN FOR SLEEP AND WAKE CONDITIONS IN EACH EXPERIMENT WILL ENSURE RIGOROUS INVESTIGATION WHILE CONTROLLING FOR INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. THIS APPROACH OPTIMIZES SCIENTIFIC RIGOR WHILE MAINTAINING FEASIBILITY. THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE THE APPLICANT WITH COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING IN SLEEP, EMOTIONAL MEMORY, AND OVARIAN HORMONE RESEARCH. THE RESEARCH AND TRAINING PLAN WILL PREPARE THE APPLICANT FOR AN INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC RESEARCH CAREER AND WILL PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO THE ENDOCRINOLOGICAL MECHANISMS SUPPORTING SLEEP- DEPENDENT EMOTIONAL MEMORY IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULT WOMEN. FINDINGS FROM THIS PROJECT COULD GUIDE PROSPECTIVE HORMONE AND SLEEP-BASED INTERVENTIONAL STUDIES TO INFORM PUBLIC HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE DOWNSTREAM MOOD, EMOTION, AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS LIKE ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, WHICH IS TWO-THIRDS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR IN WOMEN COMPARED TO MEN, IMPROVE EMOTION PROCESSING AND IMPACT WOMEN'S OVERALL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING THROUGHOUT THEIR LIFESPAN BY UNDERSCORING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HORMONES AND SLEEP.