Poor sleep in older adults may be a sign of an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a study.
-Researchers studied 101 people above 63 years of age with normal memory and cognition. They were asked to document their sleep habits in well-validated sleep questionnaires.
-The researchers analysed their spinal fluid for the presence of indicators of the plaques and tangles that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s.
-It was found that having a poor quality of sleep or having daytime sleepiness was associated with an increase in spinal fluid indicators of Alzheimer’s disease.
-It is not clear how poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s, but one animal study found that during sleep the brain’s capacity to clear toxins like beta amyloid, the toxic protein that forms plaques in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s, improves. It might be a possibility that poor sleep interferes with this process in humans, too.
-The researchers emphasised that not everyone with sleep problems would eventually develop Alzheimer’s disease. When studying groups of people, and over the whole group, an association of poor sleep with the markers of Alzheimer’s is found. However, when looking at individuals, not everyone shows that pattern. Further studies are needed to explore the association between the two.
Source: Neurology Journal