City College of San Francisco: Darian Valencia and His Insights
- ForgetMeNotIntl
- Aug 25
- 3 min read
What's up guys! My name is Darian and I'm a second year undergraduate at my local community college out here in San Francisco, California. I am looking to transfer to a 4-year university for neuroscience next year as a pre-med student. In my free time I enjoy hanging out with my friends, working out, and doing some video editing here and there.
Reviewed Article: The mediation role of sleep quality in the relationship between cognitive decline and depression by Xiaolei Liu et al.
Main Argument & Findings:
The objective of this article is to address various associations between cognitive decline and depression, and whether or not they have been inconclusive.The articles research study takes place in China amongst participants aged 50+, focusing on late-term depression and it's connection to sleep and cognitive decline. The article hypothesized that participants with depression would score lower on cognitive tests but have sleep to mediate these results.
Notably, the article found that participants in their "depression" group presented higher scores in subjective sleep quality, habitual sleep efficiency, and use of sleeping medication (with p < 0.001). The article also noted that subjects with higher levels of cognitive decline had a higher prevalence of depression (also with p < 0.001). Overall, the study concluded that relationship between cognitive decline and depression was somewhat mediated by an improvement sleep quality. The study, therefore, revealed some potential benefits to improving ones sleep quality, especially in older individuals. However, according to the article, improved sleep quality did not necessarily (or fully) counteract the progression of depression in older adults with cognitive decline, and rather, the study simply confirmed earlier scientific developments. That being, sleep itself is important and vital to maintaining ones cognitive ability. The article also supported more research to be conducted on this topic in the future to better understand this relationship and answer questions that their article was unable to do.
Importance for Youth:
If the youth better understand the importance of sleep (quality) now, they can make strategic decisions to better shape their cognitive health for the future. While the study focuses more on cognitive decline and it's link to depression, the fact that it presents data that partially suggests just an improvement in sleep quality can help offset long-term depression (even if it's in older individuals) can teach our youth that focusing on sleep alone allows your body to flourish. Good sleep can help prevent and deter cognitive issues which improves your mental wellbeing and, by association, physical wellbeing as well.
What I Learned:
This article taught me more about the importance of well-rested sleep (time and conditions), and the immense impact sleep has on our wellbeing. Sleeping is our bodies natural rejuvenation process, and without it, things such as daily tasks become both physically and mentally draining. The information in this article provides a much needed look at the long-term effects of poor sleep quality and how it can lead to severe consequences. Both cognitive decline and mental health issues can harshly affect a person in varying ways. Therefore, it is no wonder why sleep and sleep quality is so heavily emphasized by health professionals as its prevalence can circumvent cognitive decline and uplift (or maintain) cognitive wellbeing.
Citations: Liu, X., Xia, X., Hu, F., Hao, Q., Hou, L., Sun, X., Zhang, G., Yue, J., & Dong, B. (2022). The mediation role of sleep quality in the relationship between cognitive decline and depression. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-02855-5
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