As we age, sleep patterns undergo severe modifications of their micro and macrostructure, with an overall lighter and more fragmented sleep structure. In general, interventions targeting sleep represent an excellent opportunity not only to maintain life quality in the healthy aging population, but also to enhance cognitive performance and, when pathology arises, to potentially prevent/slow down conversion from e.g. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Sleep abnormalities are, in fact, one of the earliest recognizable biomarkers of dementia, being also partially responsible for a cascade of cortical events that worsen dementia pathophysiology, including impaired clearance systems leading to build-up of extracellular amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide and intracellular hyperphosphorylated tau proteins. In this context, Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (NiBS) techniques, such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), may help investigate the neural substrates of sleep, identify sleep-related pathology biomarkers, and ultimately help patients and healthy elderly individuals to restore sleep quality and cognitive performance. However, brain stimulation applications during sleep have so far not been fully investigated in healthy elderly cohorts, nor tested in AD patients or other related dementias. The manuscript discusses the role of sleep in normal and pathological aging, reviewing available evidence of NiBS applications during both wakefulness and sleep in healthy elderly individuals as well as in MCI/AD patients. Rationale and details for potential future brain stimulation studies targeting sleep alterations in the aging brain are discussed, including enhancement of cognitive performance, overall quality of life as well as protein clearance.

随着年龄的增长，睡眠模式的微观和宏观结构会发生严重改变，整体睡眠结构变得更轻、更碎片化。一般来说，针对睡眠的干预措施是一个绝佳的机会，不仅可以维持健康老龄化人群的生活质量，还可以提高认知能力，并且在出现病理时，可以潜在地预防/减缓从轻度认知障碍（MCI）到轻度认知障碍（MCI）的转变。阿尔茨海默病（AD）。事实上，睡眠异常是痴呆症最早可识别的生物标志物之一，也是导致痴呆病理生理学恶化的一系列皮层事件的部分原因，包括清除系统受损，导致细胞外淀粉样蛋白-β (Aβ) 肽和细胞内过度磷酸化的 tau 蛋白。在此背景下，无创脑刺激（NiBS）技术，例如经颅电刺激（tES）和经颅磁刺激（TMS），可能有助于研究睡眠的神经基质，识别与睡眠相关的病理生物标志物，并最终帮助患者和健康人老年人恢复睡眠质量和认知能力。然而，迄今为止，睡眠期间的脑刺激应用尚未在健康老年人群中得到充分研究，也没有在 AD 患者或其他相关痴呆症患者中进行测试。该手稿讨论了睡眠在正常和病理性衰老中的作用，回顾了健康老年人以及 MCI/AD 患者在清醒和睡眠期间应用 NiBS 的现有证据。 讨论了未来潜在的针对衰老大脑睡眠改变的脑刺激研究的基本原理和细节，包括提高认知能力、整体生活质量以及蛋白质清除率。