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sleep spindles

This shows a sleeping woman and a brain.

·March 19, 2026·9 min read

What Your Brain Waves Say About Your Future Memory

New AI analysis shows that if your brain waves look "older" than you are during sleep, your risk for dementia increases by nearly 40%.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 22, 2025·6 min read

Hunger Sharpens Sleep Rhythms That Solidify Memories

New research shows that the brain’s slow oscillations and sleep spindles — key rhythms that consolidate memories during sleep — can be shaped by more than just age. While these rhythms have long been thought of as stable traits, studies reveal that metabolic state, like fasting before sleep, can enhance their timing and co-occurrence.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·March 3, 2025·6 min read

Sleep Brain Waves Linked to Consciousness in Coma

A new study finds that sleep spindles—bursts of brain activity during sleep—may predict recovery in unresponsive patients with recent brain injuries. Researchers analyzed EEG recordings of 226 comatose patients and found that those with sleep spindles were significantly more likely to regain consciousness and functional independence.

This shows a woman sleeping and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 7, 2025·5 min read

Short-Term Rhythms Shape Sleep Spindles and Brain Health

Sleep spindles—brief bursts of brain activity crucial for memory and sleep stability—are guided primarily by short-term timing patterns lasting less than 15 seconds. Researchers found these patterns are highly individualized, consistent across nights, and change with age, outweighing the influence of other factors like brain rhythms or sleep depth.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 8, 2023·7 min read

How Deep Sleep Brain Waves Can Impact Blood Sugar Levels

Deep-sleep brain waves could be a significant factor in regulating blood sugar. The research shows that a combination of sleep spindles and slow waves can predict an increase in insulin sensitivity, subsequently lowering glucose levels.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 16, 2021·3 min read

Researchers Find Human Infant Brains and Bodies Are Active During New Sleep Stage

Infants produce sleep spindles every 10 second, whether in REM or non-REM sleep. Sleep spindles and twitching are synchronized, allowing for twitch reactions to occur during non-REM sleep in infants.

This shows a woman sleeping in a lavender field

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 25, 2021·2 min read

How the Brain Strengthens Memories During Sleep

The reactivation of learned material during slow oscillation/sleep spindle complexes, and the precision of SO-spindle coupling predicts how strong a memory will be reactivated in the brain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 5, 2020·3 min read

NMDA receptors may link psychosis and sleep deficits

NMDA receptor hypofunction is involved in the reduction of sleep spindles and delta oscillations, which appear in the brain during deep natural sleep. Findings confirm the role NMDA receptors play in sleep disorders that accompany psychotic states.

This shows brain activity from the study

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·March 2, 2020·3 min read

Sleeping sheep may offer clues to human brain disease

Monitoring sleep spindles in sheep may one day translate to sleep based diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

This shows brain scans of the hippocampus during sleep

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·June 17, 2019·3 min read

Sleep history predicts late-life Alzheimer’s pathology

Your sleep history during middle age may predict Alzheimer's pathology later in life. A decrease in sleep quality between 50 and 70 years of age is associated with higher levels of tau and amyloid beta in the brain. Changes in brain activity and quality of sleep could be a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease.