Naismith is a Clinical Neuropsychologist at the Brain & Mind Research Institute University of Sydney. She is the Director of the Clinical Centre. the neurobiology of major psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders in older people and the role of early intervention. She has authored over 90 internationally peer-reviewed publications in these areas and is a Chief Investigator on competitive grants totaling over $3.5 million. Career Development Award to investigate modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline in older people. Her research ranges from large-scale intervention trials utilising e-health, as well as clinical trials investigating the effects of pharmacological interventions, dietary supplements, educational programs and cognitive training. One of Sharon's major research interests is in the area of sleep and circadian rhythms, particularly with regard to the role that sleep plays in maintaining brain integrity, and in consolidating memories. Her work in this area includes a longitudinal study, which examines in detail the circadian and sleep physiology characteristics of older people with Parkinson's disease, mild cognitive impairment, late-life depression and frontotemporal dementia. She also runs group based programs targeting sleep disturbance and a study examining the effects of napping on memory consolidation. wake cycles are reported, with changes to the amount of sleep required, the timing of sleep and the quality of sleep, including increased nocturnal awakenings, poor consolidation of sleep and less time in deep sleep stages. In Alzheimer's Disease, these disturbances are even more pronounced, and are a predictor of cognitive decline, psychiatric symptoms, behavioral disturbance, carer burden and nursing home placement. However, it is not yet clear whether sleep-disturbance merely co-occurs with cognitive change, or whether it may actually mediate cognitive decline. is linked aetiologically to cognitive functioning and decline. Animal work shows that sleep has a neuroprotective role, contributing to hippocampal neurogenesis. In addition, in healthy younger and older samples, a corpus of research has shown that sleep is critical to overnight memory consolidation, enabling memories to be stored in the cortex, and `freeing up' the hippocampus for next day processing. Via analysis of sleep microarchitecture, neurophysiological aspects of these processes have been discerned and may partly rely on the integrity of the prefrontal cortex, thalamus and hippocampus. sleep-wake changes in Alzheimer's Disease, as well as the recent discoveries in other key neurodegenerative diseases. neuroprotection, neurogenesis and overnight memory consolidation will also be reviewed, |