Enhancement of slow wave sleep in Alzheimer's disease by closed-loop acoustic stimulation

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Sleeping problems (like difficulty falling asleep or maintaining sleep) is a very common symptom in AD. This often leads to additional problems like excessive daytime sleepiness, depressive mood or agitation during the day or at night. Together this has an important detrimental effect on the quality of life of persons with AD. What’s more, this results in increased burden for the caregiver, which often leads to an early admission of the person with AD in a nursing home. Underlying these sleep problems, are changes in the sleep architecture of a person with AD. One of the most striking changes is a reduction in the so called slow wave sleep, sometimes also called “deep sleep”. New technology makes it possible to stimulate the slow brain waves during this sleep stage by means of a quiet (not audible) acoustic stimulation generated by a headband device. We want to study if it is feasible for a person with AD to wear such a device without too much discomfort, and if this stimulation of slow waves, results in better sleep for the person with AD. Also, we want to determine if this subsequently results in better mood and less behavioral problems during daytime. Finally, partners will be asked if this improved their own sleep and if caregiver burden was reduced by this intervention.