According to recent research, people with sleep apnea might experience difficulties remembering details of memories from their lives. This might trigger depression in some individuals. In fact, it has been proven that people with obstructive sleep apnea suffer from memory issues which leads to higher rates of depression.

A recent study conducted by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, examined how sleep apnea affected autobiographical memory. During the study, it was discovered that people with untreated obstructive sleep apnea have difficulties recalling specific details about their lives.

“We know that overly general autobiographical memories – where people don’t remember many specific details of life events – are associated with the development of persistent depression,” said Dr. Melinda Jackson, the lead investigator. Moreover, she added that this research was built on the already known connection between depression and memory.

There were 44 participants with untreated obstructive sleep apnea included in the study. Their recalling of autobiographical memories was tested, including memories from their childhood, early adult life, and recent life. So, the results showed that patients with obstructive sleep apnea have more general memories.

Moreover, the study assessed the ability to recall semantic memory, such as facts and concepts from personal history, and episodic memory, such as events or episodes. However, the patients with obstructive sleep apnea had difficulties to recall semantic memories. Their episodic memories were preserved. This shows that there is a connection between their fragmented sleeping patterns and semantic memory. In fact, a good night’s sleep is crucial for the consolidation of semantic autobiographical memory.

The results discovered that sleep apnea has an effect and impairs the capacity of the brain to encode or consolidate certain types of life memories. Thus, people find it hard to recall details from the past. Obstructive sleep apnea is becoming a very common condition and more and more people seem to experience it. This condition is closely connected to depression.

Likewise, the study demonstrated a link between higher depression and worse semantic memory. The older participants had a higher number of general autobiographical memories.

According to the Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in RMIT’s School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Jackson, there is a huge need for further studies to better understand the role of untreated obstructive sleep apnea on memory processing.

In fact, brain scans have shown that people who deal with sleep apnea have a huge loss of grey matter from regions that overlap with the autobiographic memory network. However, using CPAP for sleep apnea has proven to be very beneficial for the cognitive impairments related to the condition.

So, by understanding sleep apnea and treating it properly, we can also boost the mental health of people.