Sleep - Page 5 of 16

Dementia: The Optimal Sleep Time That Reduces Risk

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, making up 70 percent of cases.

People who sleep for too little or too long are at a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

However, those who sleep for between 5.5 and 7.5 hours per night do not see declines in their cognitive health, even when suffering the early effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, making up 70 percent of cases.

Poor sleep is a common symptom of Alzheimer’s and can accelerate the progression of the disease.

Dr Brendan Lucey, the study’s first author, said:

“It’s been challenging to determine how sleep and different stages of Alzheimer’s disease are related, but that’s what you need to know to start designing interventions.
Our study suggests that there is a middle range, or ‘sweet spot,’ for total sleep time where cognitive performance was stable over time.
Short and long sleep times were associated with worse cognitive performance, perhaps due to insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality.
An unanswered question is if we can intervene to improve sleep, such as increasing sleep time for short sleepers by an hour or so, would that have a positive effect on their cognitive performance so they no longer decline?
We need more longitudinal data to answer this question.”

The study included 100 people, average age 75, most with no cognitive impairments.

Their cognitive function was tracked over almost 5 years, along with their sleep quality.

Professor David Holtzman, study co-author, explained the results:

“It was particularly interesting to see that not only those with short amounts of sleep but also those with long amounts of sleep had more cognitive decline.
It suggests that sleep quality may be key, as opposed to simply total sleep.”

People suffering sleep problems should be aware that they can be treated, said Professor Beau M. Ances, study co-author:

“I ask many of my patients, ‘How’s your sleep?’
Often patients report that they’re not sleeping well.
Often once their sleep issues are treated, they may have improvements in cognition.
Physicians who are seeing patients with cognitive complaints should ask them about their quality of sleep.
This is potentially a modifiable factor.”

The study was published in the journal Brain (Lucey et al., 2021).

This Sleep Pattern Increases Heart Disease Risk 54%

People who ignore this risk factor increase their odds of developing heart disease or stroke.

Less than seven, or more than eight hours of sleep can cause arterial stiffness leading to heart disease or stroke.

If you like to stay up late and have a drink or check your emails or watch TV and sleep until mid-morning, remember the quantity of sleep is important for your heart health.

The incidence of arterial stiffness is much lower in people who sleep seven or eight hours a night compared to those who sleep for shorter or longer hours, a study has found.

Consequently, people who sleep more than eight hours or less than seven hours are at higher risk of heart disease or stroke.

A research team measured 1,752 adults’ sleep patterns in Greece and based on duration of sleep they were divided into four groups.

The first was ‘normal’ group meaning their sleep was seven or eight hours per night, the second was the ‘short’ group meaning they slept six to seven hours nightly, the third one ‘very short’ meaning they had less than six hours sleep, and the last group ‘long’ as they had more than eight hours sleep nightly.

The results showed that participants who had more than eight hours a night were at a 39 percent higher risk of plaque build up inside the arteries and for those who slept less than six hours the odds increased to 54 percent.

This shows that duration of sleep is as important as exercise and diet for cardiovascular health.

Dr Evangelos Oikonomou, the study’s lead author, said:

“The message, based on our findings, is ‘sleep well, but not too well.’
Getting too little sleep appears bad for your health but too much seems to be harmful as well.
Unlike other heart disease risk factors such as age or genetics, sleep habits can be adjusted, and even after taking into consideration the impact of established risk factors for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases — for example age, gender, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure and even a history of coronary artery disease — both short and long sleeping duration may act as additional risk factors.”

Plaque build-up causes the arterial walls to thicken and narrow so the blood flow in the brain and the body will decrease leading to cardiovascular disease or stroke.

Dr Oikonomou, said:

“We don’t fully understand the relationship between sleep and cardiovascular health.
It could be that sympathetic nervous system withdrawal or a slowing [of this system] that occurs during sleep may act as a recovery phase for [usual] vascular and cardiac strain.
Moreover, short sleep duration may be associated with increased cardiovascular risk factors — for example, unhealthy diet, stress, being overweight or greater alcohol consumption — whereas longer sleep duration may be associated with a less active lifestyle pattern and lower physical activity.”

How much sleep we need is related to different factors such as age.

The guidelines for adults are mostly seven to nine hours sleep a night, however, one in three American adults gets less than six hours sleep.

Studies have shown that people who sleep poorly are at greater risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, mental health problem, and early death.

Experts say a regular six to eight hours a night is spot-on.

Dr Oikonomou, said:

“It seems that this amount of sleep may act as an additive cardioprotective factor among people living in modern western societies, and there can be other health benefits to getting sufficient and quality sleep.”

The study was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology, March 2020.

Waking 100 Times A Night Is Normal And May Indicate Healthy Sleep (M)

The reason for these ultra-short awakenings is partly related to memory, the researchers think.

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Insomnia: A Surprising Remedy Could Prevent 80% Of Chronic Problems (M)

Between 20 and 50 percent of Americans suffer from acute insomnia.

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The Age At Which Most People Have The Worst Sleep (M)

Sleep unexpectedly improves after this age.

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Sleep: The Ideal Amount For Optimal Mental Health (M)

Disruption of deep sleep, which occurs more during the first part of the night, is linked to memory problems and the build-up of proteins in the brain that are linked to dementia.

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A Strange Cure for Lack of Sleep (M)

Why perception of sleep quality is so important.

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The Best Nap Time To Boost Brain Health

The best nap time could keep your brain five years younger.

Taking a nap of around an hour after lunch is linked to the biggest long-term boost in mental health, research suggests.

Almost 3,000 Chinese people over the age of 65 were included in the study of napping.

Around 60 percent reported taking a nap after lunch.

The researchers found that those taking an hour-long nap did the best on measures of memory and cognition.

The study’s authors explain their results:

“…a moderate-duration nap taken during the post-lunch dip is associated with better overall cognition.
Older adults who did not nap or napped longer than 90 minutes (extended nappers) were significantly more likely than those who napped for 30 to 90 minutes after lunch (moderate nappers) to have lower overall cognition scores…”

In comparison, those who took shorter naps, longer naps or no naps were cognitively older.

It worked out that people who did not nap for around an hour were cognitively five years older:

“In the final analysis, no napping, short napping, and extended napping were associated with worse overall cognition than moderate napping.
The difference in overall cognition associated with these napping groups was similar to or greater than the decline in cognition associated with a 5-year increase in age.”

Best nap time

The study is one of the first to look at the benefits of longer afternoon naps.

The benefits of short naps are already well-known, the study’s authors write:

“…the short-term benefits of brief naps (e.g., 10 minutes) are well documented in previous studies and include greater alertness and accuracy and speed when performing a number of cognitive tasks, including psychomotor performance and short-term memory…”

The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Li et al., 2016).

The Common Sleep Pattern That Kills Attention And Creativity

Sleep pattern linked to better ideas, focus and planning.

For a boost to your attention and creativity, keep your sleep regular, research suggests.

Regular sleep patterns are linked to higher focus, better ideas and stronger forward planning.

People who skimp on sleep, then ‘catch-up’ with more sleep later suffer cognitive problems.

The study was carried out on students studying interior design.

Dr Michael Scullin, a study author, explained:

“When completing term projects, students restrict sleep, then rebound on sleep, then repeat.
Major projects which call for numerous tasks and deadlines — more so than for tests — seem to contribute to sleep variability.”

Dr Scullin explained that the detrimental effects of irregular sleep were clear in their cognition:

“The more variability they showed in their night-to-night sleep, the worse their cognition declined across the week.
[…]
Most students think they’re getting about four more hours of sleep each week than they actually are.”

Staying up late to complete projects is ingrained in the culture of interior design, as it is in other industries.

Dr Elise King, the study’s first author, said:

“Since the general public still doesn’t understand the profession of interior design, and mistakenly thinks we’re the same as decorators, there is a sense that you want to work harder and prove them wrong.
But recently, we’ve seen the consequences of that type of thinking: anxiety, depression and other mental health issues — and also the dangers of driving while sleep deprived.”

The study found students who kept more regular hours and habits had better ideas, focus and forward planning.

The pressures these students are under mirror the pressures in many different industries.

Dr King said:

“Projects are often lengthy, with final due dates looming weeks or months in the future.
The stress of juggling several projects, each with multiple deadlines, is likely to contribute to students’ tendency to cycle between several days of poor sleep leading up to a project due date, followed by a catch-up day with 10 or more sleep hours.”

The study was published in the Journal of Interior Design (King et al., 2017).

Poor Sleep Triples The Risk Of Heart Disease

One of the ways that poor sleep may be linked to heart disease is through arterial stiffness.

Poor sleep can triple the risk of heart disease, a large study finds.

Whether it was lower satisfaction with sleep, feeling sleepy during the day, lower quality sleep or less sleep overall, the worse people slept the higher their risk of heart disease.

The research included almost 7,000 adults who were asked about their sleep patterns and heart disease history.

Some also wore a device that measured their sleep activity.

Dr Soomi Lee, the study’s first author, said:

“This is one of the first studies showing that, among well-functioning adults in midlife, having more sleep health problems may increase the risk of heart disease.
The higher estimated risk in those who provided both self-report and actigraphy sleep data suggests that measuring sleep health accurately and comprehensively is important to increase the prediction of heart disease.”

Arterial stiffness

One of the ways that poor sleep may be linked to heart disease is through arterial stiffness.

Less than seven, or more than eight, hours of sleep can cause arterial stiffness leading to heart disease or stroke, a previous study has found.

Participants who had more than eight hours a night were at a 39 percent higher risk of plaque build-up inside the arteries and for those who slept less than six hours the odds increased to 54 percent.

Consequently, people who sleep more than eight hours or less than seven hours are at higher risk of heart disease or stroke.

Duration of sleep may be as important as exercise and diet for cardiovascular health.

How much sleep?

How much sleep we need is related to factors such as age.

The guidelines for adults are mostly seven to nine hours sleep a night, however, one in three American adults gets less than six hours sleep.

Studies have shown that people who sleep poorly are at greater risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, mental health problem, and early death.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Lee et al., 2022).