NIH SciBites From Home: Investigating How Head Injuries Disrupt Our Dreams

Our bodies are inactive while we sleep, but our minds are still hard at work strengthening our memories and getting rid of waste products. Head injuries can cause sleep problems and prevent those important tasks from taking place, potentially leading to an increased risk for brain illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease. Sara Mithani Ladhani, a postdoctoral researcher in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Health, is investigating how head injuries change the brain and the behavior of genes in order to uncover why they cause sleep problems. Her work could improve our ability to identify and treat people at risk for sleep problems after a brain injury.

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