Alzheimer's Cure, Prevention: Can Sleeping Better Prevent the Development of Mental Deterioration Ailment?
A good night's sleep could be an effective way to prevent a person from having Alzheimer's Disease later in life.
According to reports, a study conducted by a group of scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine that suggests that disrupted sleep in middle-aged individuals can cause a heightened level of amyloid beta on their brain. An increase in this type of brain protein is being linked to the possibility of acquiring Alzheimer's Disease in individuals.
According to the study's senior author Dr. David Holtzman, chronic poor sleeping pattern during a person's middle age could increase the risk of developing the progressive mental deterioration disorder when they reach their old age.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The researchers reportedly observed the sleeping patterns of 17 healthy adults between the ages of 35 and 65 who have no sleeping problems or any cognitive diseases. They made the study participants wear a wrist monitor that measures the time they spent sleeping every night for up to two weeks.
Reports claim that after five or more consecutive nights of wearing the wrist monitor, the participants were invited to spend a night at the School of Medicine to sleep in a specially designed room. Each participant was reportedly asked to wear headphones to cover their ears and attach some electrodes on their scalp to monitor their brain waves.
Half of the study's participants were reportedly assigned to have disrupted sleep during the night that they stayed in the study room. Researchers sent several beeps through the headphones whenever they managed to reach a deep, dreamless sleep so they will enter a shallower sleep.
After a month, the process was reportedly repeated. But the other group that had uninterrupted sleep during the first session had to experience the disruption that the first group encountered, while those who had interrupted sleep were allowed to sleep soundly in their second time in the sleep room.
Aside from feeling tired the following day despite the same amount of sleep they had before, the participants who were assigned to have disrupted sleep reportedly had a 10 percent increase in their amyloid beta levels based on the measurement recorded after having a spinal tap. However, their tau levels reportedly had no significant increase.
However, the study's first co-author Dr. Yo-El Ju reiterated that the study was not made to learn whether a healthy sleeping pattern can lessen the risk of Alzheimer's Disease, but she believes that it can help improve one's health.
"At this point, we can't say whether improving sleep will reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's. All we can really say is that bad sleep increases levels of some proteins that are associated with Alzheimer's disease. But a good night's sleep is something you want to be striving for anyway," Ju stated.
The study was first published by the neurology study journal Brain.
