We’ve all heard how important sleep
is to our health. Now, a new study published in JAMA Neurology
indicates that a lack of sleep might increase our chances of
developing Alzheimer’s. Or, is it the other way around? Does
Alzheimer’s lead to a lack of sleep?
Jim always considered sleep “a waste
of time.” He was an early riser his entire life. I, on the other
hand, could barely function without eight hours sleep.
Once Jim developed dementia, he seemed
to require only about four hours sleep. Over time, I too shortened my
sleeping hours. Between Jim and being at work by seven o’clock, I
just flat didn’t have time to sleep much. My eight hours dwindled
to six or less. I knew it wasn’t good for my health, but chronic
lack of sleep became the norm.
A common New Year’s resolution for me
was to get more sleep. I’ve struggled with health problems that may
have gone away completely with enough shut-eye. One of the side
effects of sleep deprivation is weight gain. In some ways that seems
counter-intuitive. At one time I figured the longer I was awake, the
more calories I would burn and that would make it easier to lose
weight. Wrong. It takes sleep to regulate the hormones that tell us
when we are hungry. When ghrelin and leptin are not balanced, we
think we are hungry which leads to overeating.
Instead of sleep being a waste of time,
we are at our most productive while we are catching our ZZZ’s. When
we move into the deepest stage of sleep, our bodies move into
restorative overdrive. While we sleep, we are recharging our energy
levels. Our muscles relax and our blood pressure drops. Hormones
essential for tissue growth and repair are released. During sleep, we
consolidate everything we’ve learned which improves our memory.
On the flip side of the sleep coin,
lack of sleep quality or quantity may lead to serious health
disorders—heart disease, stroke, diabetes—to name a few. A couple
of other distressing side effects are depression and premature aging.
Researchers have known for years that
people who don’t get enough sleep are forgetful. This new study
takes that concern to an entirely different level. Researchers at
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore used
scans to measure the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques, one of the
hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Even healthy people can have some
plaques in their brains, but they do not have as many as people with
Alzheimer’s. The people who did not get enough sleep had more
buildup of plaques in their brains than those who reported that they
slept well at night.
Why would sleep have anything to do
with beta-amyloid plaques? It seems that while we sleep our brain is
in self-cleaning mode. During sleep our brain cells shrink which
allows cerebrospinal fluid to wash away the toxins in our brain.
Of course, this all comes with a
disclaimer that sleep might not stop Alzheimer’s, but anything that
will reduce the formation of cell-choking plaques can be seen as
therapeutic. In addition to sleep itself, the researchers believe
that drugs should be explored to force the cleansing process that can
occur naturally during deep sleep. This study just reinforces the
need to explore different avenues of treatment for Alzheimer’s.
Could our way of life contribute to an
unprecedented increase of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and heart
disease? Research shows that healthy eating, exercise, and a good
night’s sleep work together to prevent a myriad of diseases.
As if daytime isn’t enough time to
ruin our health, we use evenings to cram in TV, Facebook,
volunteer work, meetings, social activities, or heaven forbid we take
work home. So much to do, so little time. Then when we fall into bed,
our brains are still going full tilt to remind us of what we still
have to do, or what we’ve forgotten to do. Sweet dreams are a long
time coming just to be interrupted by the alarm clock letting us know
it’s time to get up and do it all over again.
Maybe it’s time to take a deep
breath, spend some quality time relaxing and catch some extra ZZZ’s.
Sweet dreams may be the answer to some of life’s most perplexing
health issues.
Copyright (c) October 2013 by Linda
Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
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