Strong evidence suggests that there are mutual effects between sleep disturbance and cognitive impairment. Sleep disturbance has become one of the risk factors for dementia. Memory impairment is the most significant cognitive dysfunction during sleep disorders, and accordingly, the hippocampus as a vital brain area plays important role in the consolidation of information and in spatial memory that enables navigation has stimulated increasing interest focusing on hippocampal dysfunction especially memory impairment after sleep disorders. This review summarized a series of functional alterations in the hippocampus including disease, functional imaging, and biological variation in the case of sleep disorders from different dimensions, aiming to elucidate the molecular mechanism of sleep deprivation on hippocampal cognitive function and to provide a theoretical basis for improving learning and memory abilities damaged by sleep disorders.