According to the Daily Mail, new research suggests that getting a good night’s sleep may be the key to improving memory later in life.
People who manage fewer than four hours a night or who wake regularly are more at risk of developing dementia.
Poor quality sleep and restless nights are thought to trigger the formation of plaques on the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Previous studies have shown disrupted sleep is common in people with the condition and could play a role in developing the disease.
New research shows sleeping well could prevent the development of plaques – abnormal clusters of protein fragments – associated with Alzheimer’s.
It is also thought to play a key role in maintaining grey matter health in regions of the brain sensitive to ageing and memory.
People who sleep poorly are more likely to have a build-up of amyloid-beta (Ab) – a sticky protein which clumps together to form damaging plaques.
Years ago on binarysleep.com I started a thread http://www.binarysleep.com/forum/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=5134 where I pondered wether there was a connection! My mom died of Alzheimers and also had bad sleep apnea and I felt strongly that the constant assaults on the brain during these apneic events led to Alzheimers! Seems like my tech crew who chimed in on that thread were many years ahead of the reserch! 🙂 Check out our binarysleep.com thread of info on the topic from back in 2008!