SLEEP-DISORDERED BREATHING, A disorder characterized by recurrent arousals from sleep and intermittent hypoxemia, is common among older adults and affects up to 60% of elderly populations. A number of adverse health outcomes including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes have been associated with sleep-disordered breathing. Cognitive impairment also has been linked to sleep-disordered breathing, but the majority of studies have been crosssectional or have relied on nonobjective measures of sleep-disordered breathing, thus limiting the ability to draw conclusions on the directionality of the association. It remains unclear whether sleep-disordered breathing precedes cognitive impairment in communitydwelling elderly individuals. Given the high prevalence and significant morbidity associated with both sleep-disordered breathing and cognitive impairment in older populations, establishing whether a prospective association exists between sleep-disordered breathing and cognition is important. This is especially important because ef-

Sleep disordered breathing, hypoxia, and risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older women

With an advancement of digital technology, excessive screen time has become a grave concern. This has pushed researchers and practitioners to focus on digital well-being. Screen time during COVID-19 has further increased as a result of public health measures enforced by governments to curb the pandemic. With the global societies under lockdown, the only medium to stay socio- emotionally connected was the digital one. A lack of comprehensive empirical overviews on screen time in COVID-19 era in the present literature prompted us to conduct this review. The present review attempts to understand the virtual social connectedness, excessive use of digital technology, its consequences and suggest strategies to maintain healthy use of digital technology. Results reveal that screen time has increased drastically during COVID-19. Though there are mixed consequences of prolonged screen time use and blurred understanding between healthy and unhealthy social connectedness over digital media, the suggestions for negative implications on (physical and) mental health warrant a strict need for inculcating healthy digital habits, especially knowing that digital technology is here to stay and grow with time.

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Social Connectedness, Excessive Screen Time During COVID-19 and Mental Health: A Review of Current Evidence

Our access to computer-generated worlds changes the way we feel, how we think, and how we solve problems In this review, we explore the utility of different types of virtual reality, immersive or non-immersive, for providing controllable, safe environments that enable individual training, neurorehabilitation, or even replacement of lost functions The neurobiological effects of virtual reality on neuronal plasticity have been shown to result in increased cortical gray matter volumes, higher concentration of electroencephalographic beta-waves, and enhanced cognitive performance Clinical application of virtual reality is aided by innovative brain-computer interfaces, which allow direct tapping into the electric activity generated by different brain cortical areas for precise voluntary control of connected robotic devices Virtual reality is also valuable to healthy individuals as a narrative medium for redesigning their individual stories in an integrative process of self-improvement and personal development Future upgrades of virtual reality-based technologies promise to help humans transcend the limitations of their biological bodies and augment their capacity to mold physical reality to better meet the needs of a globalized world

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/2/221/pdf

Virtual Reality for Neurorehabilitation and Cognitive Enhancement.

Objective: This study investigated whether acute exercise duration affects inhibition in late middle-aged adults. Methods: Over four separate days, 40 late middle-aged adults completed, in a counterbalanced order, three exercise sessions consisting of single bouts of moderate-to-vigorous intensity cycling, with the main acute exercise durations being 10, 20, and 45 min, and a control session consisting of 30 min of reading. Their inhibition performance was then evaluated by administration of the Stroop test following each session. Results: The participants had shorter mean response times for both the congruent and neutral conditions of the Stroop following the acute exercise lasting 20 min than they did after the control session. The acute exercise lasting 20 min also resulted in shorter response times for both conditions of the Stroop than the acute exercise lasting only 10 min. Meanwhile, the acute exercise lasting 45 min resulted in a shorter mean response time for the neutral Stroop condition than did the control session. Finally, the acute exercise lasting 20 min resulted in the shortest mean response time of all four sessions for the Stroop incongruent condition. Conclusion: The above findings suggest that the moderate-to-vigorous intensity acute exercise lasting 20 min facilitated multiple cognitive function domains in general, whereas the exercise sessions of shorter and longer duration had negligible effects on executive function in the late middle-aged adults. These results highlight the need to consider the duration of any moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise when developing acute exercise programs to facilitate executive function in aged populations.

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Effects of Acute Exercise Duration on the Inhibition Aspect of Executive Function in Late Middle-Aged Adults.

Rolipram treatment during consolidation ameliorates long-term object location memory in aged male mice.

Emerging scientific evidence indicates that frequent digital technology use has a significant impact-both negative and positive-on brain function and behavior. Potential harmful effects of extensive screen time and technology use include heightened attention-deficit symptoms, impaired emotional and social intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, impaired brain development, and disrupted sleep. However, various apps, videogames, and other online tools may benefit brain health. Functional imaging scans show that internet-naive older adults who learn to search online show significant increases in brain neural activity during simulated internet searches. Certain computer programs and videogames may improve memory, multitasking skills, fluid intelligence, and other cognitive abilities. Some apps and digital tools offer mental health interventions providing self-management, monitoring, skills training, and other interventions that may improve mood and behavior. Additional research on the positive and negative brain health effects of technology is needed to elucidate mechanisms and underlying causal relationships. .

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Brain health consequences of digital technology use .

As the world's population ages and people live longer, the changes in the aging brain present substantial challenges to our health and society. With greater longevity come age-related diseases, many of which have direct and indirect influences on the health of the brain. Although there is some degree of predictable decline in brain functioning with aging, meaningful cognitive decline is not inevitable and is perhaps preventable. In this review, we present the case that the course of aging-related brain disease and dysfunction can be modified. We present the evidence for conditions and risk factors that may contribute to cognitive decline and dementia and for interventions that may mitigate their impact on cognitive functioning later in life, or even prevent them and their cognitive sequelae from developing. Although much work remains to be done to meet the challenges of the aging brain, strategies to promote its health have been demonstrated and offer much promise, which can only be realized if we mount a vigorous public health effort to implement these strategies.

Jason Jalil

Papers

Brain health consequences of digital technology use .

Health-Promoting Strategies for the Aging Brain.