Disrupted Sleep Linked With Early Sign Of Alzheimer's: Study

Having trouble staying asleep at night could spell trouble for your memory in old age, a new study suggests.

Research that will be presented in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology shows that people who reported waking up more than five times in an hour also had an increased risk of having build up of amyloid plaques -- which are linked with Alzheimer's disease -- in their brains.

"Further research is needed to determine why this is happening and whether sleep changes may predict cognitive decline," study researcher Yo-El Ju, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a statement.

Researchers examined the sleep patterns of 100 people ages 45 to 80 who didn't have dementia by having them fill out sleep diaries and questionnaires, and placing a device on them as they slept for two weeks. Half of the study participants had a family history of Alzheimer's disease.

The scientists found after the study that 25 percent of people had evidence of amyloid plaques in their brains. The average night's sleep for the study participants was eight hours, and the average time actually spent sleeping (due to periods of wakefulness during the night) was 6.5 hours a night.

Researchers found that the more "efficient" sleepers -- that is, the people who spent more than 85 percent of time in their beds actually sleeping -- were less likely to have the amyloid plaques than the "inefficient" sleepers -- defined as people who spent less than 85 percent of time in their beds actually sleeping.

Past studies have also shown that sleep has other beneficial impacts on the brain.

In 2005, researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that getting a good night's sleep is linked with improvement in motor skills. That research was published in the journal Neuroscience.

And just last year, researchers from Stanford University published a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that showed that having constantly interrupted sleep is linked with an impaired ability to learn new things, the Los Angeles Times reported. That study was conducted in mice.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[hattie54]

11:41 PM on 02/14/2012

My hubby used to sleep 8 hrs fine until he got on his medications.Now he gets mostly 6 hrs of sleep and 7 if he is lucky.

[Lembransation]

10:23 PM on 02/14/2012

I'm pleased Huffington Post links to the source for this story. This has the title: "Trouble sleeping? It may affect your memory later on"

Yet the researcher states at the end: "We need longer-term studies, following individuals' sleep over years, to determine whether disrupted sleep leads to amyloid plaques, or whether brain changes in early Alzheimer's disease lead to changes in sleep."

I guess there wouldn't have been the same media interest if the headline had been the equally valid: "Early Alzheimer's disease? It may affect your sleeping."

[robertaruth]

09:26 PM on 02/14/2012

Hey Amanda! Could there be a mistake in this story? Five times an HOUR or five times a NIGHT?

[Lembransation]

10:12 PM on 02/14/2012

The statement the article links to does say five times an hour.

The increased risk of amyloid plaques in people sleeping for less than 85% of their time in bed is given as a separate fact - the waking time isn't necessarily from waking up five times per hour. I presume it could be in one lump of lost sleep.

Something I'm wondering is does this show that sleep disruption causes amyloid plaques or that amyloid plaques causes sleeplessness in some people?

[fmazoman51]

08:30 PM on 02/14/2012

I'm screwed...

[robertaruth]

09:23 PM on 02/14/2012

Don't lose your sense of humor.

[Faith Roby]

07:48 PM on 02/14/2012

I could probably understand the reasoning behind this!

[Bushido08]

06:41 PM on 02/14/2012

Ok wait a second "waking up more than five times in an hour"?? Well if that doesn't cause Alzheimer I can certainly understand why it would cause some sort of problem!

[catslegl]

06:32 PM on 02/14/2012

Uh-oh.