Sleep appears to play an essential role in a number of brain functions, but how does it affect the risk of developing dementia? Two medical researchers weigh in.
MONTREAL, Canada: Dementia is a progressive loss of cognitive abilities, such as memory, that is significant enough to have an impact on a person’s daily activities.
These risk factors include depression, lack of physical activity, social isolation, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking, as well as poor sleep. As part of our research, we monitored and analysed the sleep of people aged 60 and over to see who did – or did not – develop dementia.Sleep appears to play an essential role in a number of brain functions, such as memory. Good quality sleep could therefore play a vital role in preventing dementia.
Several sleep changes are common in adults, such as going to bed and waking up earlier, sleeping for shorter periods of time and less deeply, and waking up more frequently during the night.Participants in the Framingham Heart Study were assessed using a sleep recording – known as polysomnography – on two occasions, approximately five years apart, in the period of 1995 to 1998 and again in 2001 to 2003.
Although our results do not prove that loss of deep sleep causes dementia, they do suggest that it could be a risk factor in the elderly. Other aspects of sleep may also be important, such as its duration and quality.Knowing the impact of a lack of deep sleep on cognitive health, what strategies can be used to improve it?
You can also avoid caffeine, limit your alcohol intake, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active during the day, and sleep in a comfortable, dark and quiet environment.
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