Sleep apnea linked with cognitive issues

At the University of California, San Francisco, studies on sleep apnea have found that the presence of the condition in older women predicts memory and cognitive issues 5 years later. One-third of women had dementia or cognitive impairment at the second study date - among those who had sleep apnea at the first study date, 45 percent had dementia or cognitive impairment. The statistics found that older women with sleep apnea are twice as likely to have dementia or memory issues.

Reuters reported on the study yesterday.

Knowing self in short-term memory

An inability to relate to events in the past, to not remember being somewhere or with someone, is a dysfunction of episodic memory. Alzheimer's disease and memory-related dementia  include such a dysfunction, but alcohol abuse can also lead to an inability of the brain to use this metamemory process.

The concept of autonoetic consciousness, a key aspect of episodic memory was developed in the 1970s and expanded upon with brain imaging studies in the past 4 decades. The mechanism involves the concept of self, which is unique to every individual

Read more about the phenomenon of episodic memory.