Sleep Disorders: An Early Warning Sign of Alzheimer's Disease?

Sleep Disorders: An Early Warning Sign of Alzheimer's Disease?

sleep disorsders an early warniing sign of alzheimer's disease

Sleep Disorders: An Early Warning Sign of Alzheimer's Disease?

The difficulty in getting enough sleep can be linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease for some people, a new study.

The results of the small study suggests that people with a higher than normal risk of Alzheimer's disease who had poorer quality of sleep, more sleep problems and daytime sleepiness were more markers for Alzheimer's disease In their cerebrospinal fluid that those who had no problems of sleep.

The markers found by the researchers included signs of amyloid and tau proteins, and brain damage and inflammation cells, all related to Alzheimer's potential.

Amyloid is a protein that is folded and plate-shaped. Tau is a protein that forms tangles. Patches of entanglements and are found in the brain of people with Alzheimer's disease and are considered a feature of the disease.

"This study and others in the field suggest that sleep can be a modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer's disease," said researcher Barbara Bendlin. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin.

"This will require studies to test directly if you want to change the dream has a beneficial effect on the brain," Bendlin said.

Therefore, if you are someone who is still pulling and turning at night, does this mean that it is destined for a future with Alzheimer's disease?

Not necessarily. Bendlin said that these results can not prove that causes bad sleep of Alzheimer's disease. "We found an association," he said. "But that does not mean the cause and the effect. "

It is possible that changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease could affect sleep, as opposed to the reverse, says Bendlin.

People with markers - signs - Alzheimer's disease in their cerebrospinal fluid are not necessarily predestined to develop either disease, he said.

"We found relationships between sleep and protein levels related to Alzheimer's disease, but we measured proteins have not yet shown predictar future dementia measured in healthy people cognitively," Bendlin said.

The study included 101 people and their average age was 63. At the time of the test, all volunteers in the study had normal memory and reflective abilities. However, they were considered at risk for Alzheimer's disease, either because they had a parent with the disease or carrying a gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer's called apolipoprotein E or APOE.

Volunteers study received a cerebrospinal fluid test specimen of Alzheimer's disease markers was made.

They also answered questions to judge the quality of your sleep. Here are some examples: "In the past four weeks, how many times do you have the amount of sleep you need? Or "Do you have enough sleep to feel rested when you wake up in the morning?" Said Bendlin.

Although a strong association between sleep disorders and markers of Alzheimer's disease in most people, all patients with difficulty sleeping had observed these markers in their cerebrospinal fluid, Bendlin said.

For example, no association has been observed in people with sleep apnea and markers for Alzheimer's disease in their cerebrospinal fluid.

Other factors such as the use of drugs to help sleep, education, depression and weight did not alter the association between poor sleep and markers of Alzheimer's disease, researchers have find.

One thing that could have produced the results is that the participants reported their own sleep problems. People can denounce the bad their sleep problems or do not remember correctly, the researchers said.

A specialist said that was observed the association between sleep and amyloid in mice, but its effect on people do not know.

"There is a positive feedback loop involving sleep and amyloid," Dr. Sam Gandy, director of the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York said.

In mice, the more the dream, the more amyloid accumulates. More amyloid accumulates, more sleep, he said.

It is not known if this happens in the same way in man, said Gandy.