Sleeping less than 6 hours a night in the middle of life increases the risk of dementia by 30%, the study shows

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After tracking nearly 8,000 people for 25 years, the study found a higher risk of dementia with a “sleep duration of six hours or less at the age of 50 and 60” compared to those who slept seven. hours a night.

In addition, persistent short-term sleep between the ages of 50, 60, and 70 was also associated with a “30% increased risk of dementia,” independent of “sociodemographic, behavioral, cardiometabolic, and mental health factors.” “, Including depression, according to the study. .

“Sleep is important for the normal functioning of the brain and is also thought to be important for eliminating the toxic proteins that accumulate in dementia in the brain,” said Tara Spiers-Jones, who is deputy director of the Center for the Discovery of Brain Sciences. at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in a statement. Spiers-Jones was not involved in the study.

“What’s the message for all of us? Evidence of sleep disorders may appear long before other clinical evidence of dementia appears,” said Tom Dening, who heads the Center for Dementia at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham at Sea. Britain, in a statement.

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“However, this study cannot establish cause and effect,” said Denning, who was not involved in the study. “It may simply be a very early sign of dementia to occur, but it is also quite likely that poor sleep is not good for the brain and leaves it vulnerable to neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease.”

Chicken or egg?

It is well known that people with Alzheimer’s suffer from sleep problems. In fact, insomnia, wandering at night and drowsiness during the day are common for people with Alzheimer’s, as well as other cognitive disorders such as Lewy body dementia and frontal lobe dementia.
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But poor sleep leads to dementia – and which is the first? This question about “chicken and egg” has been explored in previous studies, with research pointing in both directions, according to neurologist Jeffrey Iliff, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

“In experimental studies, there seems to be evidence of both chicken and egg,” Iliff told CNN in a previous interview. “You can drive it in any direction.”

However, some recent studies have explored the damage that sleep deprivation can cause.

A 2017 study found that people who have less REM or sleep in the dream stage may be at higher risk of developing dementia. REM is the fifth stage of sleep, when the eyes move, the body warms up, breathing and pulse accelerate and the mind dreams.
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Healthy middle-aged adults who slept poorly only one night produced an abundance of amyloid beta plaques – one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, revealed another study published in 2017. Amyloid beta is a sticky protein compound that disrupts communication between cells brain, killing cells as they accumulate in the brain

One week of disturbed sleep increased the amount of tau, another protein responsible for the disorders associated with Alzheimer’s, frontal lobe dementia and Lewy body diseases, the study found.

Another 2017 study compared markers of dementia in spinal fluid with self-reported sleep problems and found that subjects with sleep problems were more likely to show evidence of your pathology, brain cell damage, and inflammation. and when other factors such as depression, body mass, cardiovascular disease and sleep medications have been considered.
Losing a night's sleep can increase the risk factor for Alzheimer's, the study says
“Our findings align with the idea that worse sleep can contribute to the buildup of Alzheimer’s-related proteins in the brain,” Barbara Bendlin of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Research Center told CNN in a previous interview about the 2017 study.

“The fact that we can find these effects in people who are cognitively healthy and close to middle age suggests that these relationships appear early may provide a window of opportunity for intervention,” Bendlin said.

“New information” about sleep deprivation

Because the new study has targeted a large population over an extended period of time, it adds “new information to the emerging picture” about the link between insomnia and dementia, said Elizabeth Coulthard, an associate professor of dementia neurology at the University of Bristol in the UK. , in a statement.

“This means that at least some of the people who developed dementia probably did not already have it at the beginning of the study, when sleep was first assessed,” said Coulthard, who was not involved in the study.

“It strengthens the evidence that poor sleep in middle age could cause or worsen dementia in later life,” she said.

At this time, science does not have a “safe way to prevent dementia,” but people can change certain behaviors to reduce their risk, said Sara Imarisio, who leads strategic initiatives at Alzheimer’s Research UK, in a statement. Imarisio was not involved in the study.

“The best evidence suggests that not smoking, drinking only in moderation, staying mentally and physically active, eating a balanced diet and keeping cholesterol and blood pressure under control can help keep our brains healthy as we go.” we are getting older ”.

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