Sleep time may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia

Sleep-deprived older people also had moderate to significant deterioration in tests commonly used by older people to assess cognitive abilities such as orientation, attention, memory, language, and visual space skills. Identify mild dementia.

“The main point is that it’s important to maintain a healthy sleep in later years,” Winner said in an email. “In addition, both those who sleep too little and those who sleep too much showed higher (body mass index) and more depressive symptoms.” The findings show that short and long sleeps are associated with different underlying disease processes. He suggested that there was a possibility, Winer added.

Beta amyloid 101

Beta amyloid or amyloid-β is “a protein produced during normal brain cell activity, but we are still uncertain about its function,” Winer said.

“Amyloid β is one of the first detectable markers in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” Winner said. “In Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid β protein begins to accumulate throughout the brain and sticks to plaque. With age, amyloid plaques are more likely to appear, and many people with amyloid accumulation in the brain remain healthy. Approximately 30% of healthy 70-year-olds have a significant amount of amyloid plaque in their brains. “

In a previous study, “sleep may help limit the production of amyloid in the brain and support a drainage system that removes it,” said Alzheimer’s disease research UK communications manager who was not involved in the study. Laura Phipps said. on mail.

Amyloid β can begin to accumulate years before the onset of overt symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, Phipps added. “This makes it difficult to distinguish between cause and effect when studying the risk of sleep disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, especially when looking only at data from a point in time.”

Sleep, depression, social demography

The current study analyzed 4,417 participants from the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, with an average age of 71.3 years and predominantly Caucasians.

Depressive symptoms were reported in both the short and long sleep groups than in the normal sleep group. Self-reported caffeine intake was not associated with sleep time. However, the more alcoholic beverages participants drink daily, the more likely they are to sleep longer.

There were also differences by gender, race, and ethnicity. Being a woman and being educated for more years were both significantly associated with sleeping longer each night. Black or African-American participants also reported that average sleep time was 37.9 minutes shorter when compared to white participants. Asian participants reported 27.3 minutes less. Latin or Hispanic Caucasian participants reported 15 minutes less.

These findings include other aspects of life such as “racism and perception of racism” in which sleep disparity correlates with cardiovascular and metabolic health, socioeconomic factors, and reduced sleep in previous studies. The authors write that it suggests that it may be related to lateral inequality.

Remaining questions

“To better understand the order and direction of causality in these relationships, future studies will build images of how sleep patterns, biological processes, and cognitive skills change over time. “We need to do that,” said Phipps.

“This new study is from a large international study of cognitively healthy people, but relied on participants reporting their sleep time rather than directly measuring their sleep time. “She added. “Researchers were unable to assess sleep quality or time spent at different stages of the sleep cycle, each of which may be an important factor in the association between sleep and cognitive health. . “

The authors also write that it is controversial whether some cognitive areas are more affected by extreme sleep time than others.

Elderly people who are concerned about these findings should place as much importance on sleep as eating and exercising for their health, Winner said.

“Researchers are still working to understand the complex relationship between sleep and our long-term cognitive health, but high-quality sleep is important for many aspects of our health and well-being. There may be, “Phips said. “The best evidence suggests that 7 to 9 hours of sleep is optimal for most adults, and those who believe that sleep patterns affect long-term health should consult a doctor. doing.”