Sleep apnea, lack of deep sleep linked to brain damage, study says

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no control sleep apnea — A disorder that causes multiple respiratory arrests of 10 seconds or more at a time — that can be harmful future brain health, new research found.

an estimated 936 million adults World wide People between the ages of 30 and 69 can have sleep apnea, and many more are undiagnosed. If sleep apnea is severe and untreated, 3 times more likely to die from any cause.

severe person sleep apnea Studies have shown that people who get less deep sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep, have more damage to the white matter of their brains than those who get more slow-wave sleep.

White matter is the tissue that forms connections between brain cells and the rest of the nervous system. When the brain is scanned, small white patches called white matter hyperintensities indicate the extent of damage.

Every 10% reduction in time spent in deep sleep increased white matter hypersignaling in the brain, similar to being 2.3 years older, said study co-author and neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. One Dr. Diego Carvalho said: Minnesota.

“The association with sleep apnea became apparent only when severe cases were isolated, suggesting that mild to moderate sleep apnea may not be significantly associated with white matter changes. doing.

But there’s no cure for these brain changes, so “we need to find ways to prevent them from happening or getting worse.” Carvalho said.

Experts say increased white matter hyperintensity can impair the brain’s ability to process information, pay attention, and remember.Low white matter levels are also associated with mental health. increase problems such as depressionanxiety and Hypersensitivity.

“Their findings are consistent with the literature showing that sleep, including slow-wave sleep, plays an important role in maintaining brain health. Chicago.

“Poor sleep quality has also been linked to high blood pressure, and high blood pressure can lead to brain damage and stroke,” said Knutson, who was not involved in the new study.

the study, Published Wednesday in the journal Neurologysurveyed 140 people with an average age of 72 years Participating in Mayo Clinic studies of aging. All had no dementia, no cognitive impairment during testing, and had one of two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

Approximately 34% of participants had mild sleep apnea, 32% moderate, and 34% severe sleep apnea. With sleep apnea, oxygen levels drop, carbon dioxide levels drop, blood pressure and heart rate rise, says Carvalho.

“All of these changes lead to increased inflammation in the body and brain, leading to activation of stress hormones that raise blood pressure and affect metabolism, which can thicken the blood.” A lack of blood supply to the brain can lead to neuronal cell death and white matter damage, which can ultimately lead to cognitive decline.”

This study examined two biomarkers of brain damage. Increased white matter hyperintensities and fractional anisotropy changes in the genus corpus callosum (genu FA) that measure the movement of water within the fibers connecting neurons in the brain.

“Changes in axonal water movement are associated with integrity issues that suggest damage to that structure,” Carvalho said. “We used this measurement to investigate early white matter abnormalities associated with vascular disease.”

Dementia due to vascular disease is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, according to experts.

After ruling out conditions that could affect brain changes such as age, hypertension, and cholesterol, the study found that every 10% decrease in slow-wave sleep was associated with 3 years of aging, as measured by FA values. It turned out to be equivalent, says Carvalho.

A white-matter hyperintensity test yielded similar results, Dr. Carvalho said. The brain of a patient who had only 5% of his total sleep in slow-wave sleep or deep sleep during the study had a 4.6% improvement in white matter abnormalities compared to a patient who spent 25% of his sleep in slow-wave sleep. Looked older. , He said.

Some degree of white matter damage is typical in middle age due to repeated exposure to environmental challenges such as pollution, stress and cardiovascular problems, to name a few. 45 year old brain.

Such white matter changes are associated with increased risk of cognitive decline as well as Alzheimer’s disease and related types of dementia. But having white matter damage doesn’t guarantee serious mental decline, said Richard Isaacson, M.D., an Alzheimer’s disease researcher and preventive neurologist at the Florida Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

“It’s not ‘good’ to have white matter disease, but it’s hard to judge how clinically it makes sense…in a new study.”

Additionally, the study was only able to show association, not causation, so more research is needed to understand the relationship between sleep apnea and changes to the brain, Knutson said.

“Lower rates of slow-wave sleep may be the result of fragmented sleep, especially from obstructive sleep apnea. Alternatively, slow-wave sleep itself may be important for cardiovascular and brain health.” There is a possibility.

During the first and second stages of sleep, your body’s rhythms begin to break down.In doing so, the third stage, the slow wave or A deep sleep in which the body is literally recovering itself at the cellular level.

years of research It has been discovered that sleep, especially the deepest and most curative type of sleep, boosts immune function. It’s also time to “get rid of the trash,” Isaacson said.

Deep sleep is considered one of the best indicators of sleep quality. This is because a person typically needs relatively uninterrupted sleep to achieve that. Since each sleep cycle is about 90 minutes long, most adults need 7 to 8 hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep to get restorative sleep. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, a person with sleep apnea may experience dozens of micro-awakenings during the night due to snoring, snoring, and gasping. It becomes difficult to get sleep and progress to the final stage of dream emergence called rapid eye movement or REM sleep.

According to research, Lack of REM sleep It can lead to memory and cognitive impairment, heart and other chronic diseases. Premature death.