As we age, we do not have to worry about developing dementia. It is beacuse now there are ways to decrease our risk of having dementia. Much research focuses on sleep’s role in people’s lives. In addition, getting enough sleep plays an important role in a healthy lifestyle. However, it is recommended that people get 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night.
Studies on Dementia and Sleep
- In an interview with Medical News Today, Dr. David Merrill said, “Sleep quality can play a significant role in influencing cognitive health. Dr. David Merrill also stressed that low-quality sleep can result in negative changes to the brain. An adequate amount of sleep allows for the repair and restoration of functions that were present at the start.“
- “Dementia risk may increase if you get insufficient sleep,” says Dr. Anton Porsteinsson of the University of Rochester Medical Center. This includes sleep patterns over years or decades before dementia becomes clinically proven.”
- In a large cohort study from Boston University, researchers suggested that long sleep time could predict dementia risk. People who slept more than 9 hours at night had twice the risk of dementia, according to their research.
How To Attain Sound Sleep?
The National Sleep Foundation lists these 4 features for great sleep:
- After going to sleep, you should fall asleep within 30 minutes.
- waking only once in the night
- Only be awake 20 minutes in the night.
- A good rule of thumb is to sleep 85% of the time.
What Are The Attributes of Sound Sleep?
According to Dr. David Merrill, the attributes of a person’s sleep include quality, quantity, frequency, and even regularity can affect a person’s cognitive health. In addition, quality sleep includes both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM). As they cycle through the night, they continue to do so. Moreover, in a study on June 1, 2021, a PLOS BIOLOGY article states that during NREM sleep, low-frequency brain waves clear the brain of toxins tau and beta-amyloid .” These brain waves pulse spinal fluid, which carries toxins away.
Why Happened it Without Good Sleep?
Beta-amyloid and tau build-up without good sleep and form plaques and tangles. This may begin 10 to 20 years before dementia symptoms are noticed,” as stated in the article.
Over a billion people worldwide suffer from sleep apnea. These people have an increased risk for asthma, cancer, and heart problems.
Furthermore, studies have shown links to sleep apnea and dementia. According to Dr. Merrill, someone with sleep apnea stops breathing while asleep. This leads to drops of oxygenation of their brain.” Also, it has been found that the temporal lobes have a thickness reduction in sleep apnea which is also seen in dementia. Many other studies have found these results in sleep apnea:
- more tau
- more amyloid plaques
- lack of oxygen in their blood
- decrease in the volume of the hippocampus
Conclusion
In conclusion, in dementia, brain cells do not function properly and die over time. As those brain
cells die, the sleep centers of the brain experience the inability to send signals to stay awake. If
people sleep too much during the day, there is a loss of neurons that keep a person awake. In studies of mouse cells, plaques were found to have built up, so circadian rhythms (changes in a 24-hour cycle due to light and dark) were affected. Thus, it would be useful to study the effect of sleep on cognitive health.