If you don't sleep well, you're probably going to be stupid!
On July 10, 2017, a study published online in the Brain showed that even if only one night of sleep was disturbed, the protein associated with alzheimer's increased in the Brain.
Sleep deprivation increases amyloid-beta, suggesting that chronically disrupted sleep may promote amyloid plaques and other downstream Alzheimer’s disease pathologies including tauopathy or inflammation. To date, studies have not examined which aspect of sleep modulates amyloid-beta or other Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. Seventeen healthy adults (age 35–65 years) without sleep disorders underwent 5–14 days of actigraphy, followed by slow wave activity disruption during polysomnogram, and cerebrospinal fluid collection the following morning for measurement of amyloid-b, tau, total protein, YKL-40, and hypocretin. Data were compared to an identical protocol, with a sham condition during polysomnogram. Specific disruption of slow wave activity correlated with an increase in amyloid-b40 (r = 0.610, P = 0.009). This effect was specific for slow wave activity, and not for sleep duration or efficiency. This effect was also specific to amyloid-b, and not total protein, tau, YKL-40, or hypocretin. Additionally, worse home sleep quality, as measured by sleep efficiency by actigraphy in the six nights preceding lumbar punctures, was associated with higher tau (r = 0.543, P = 0.045). Slow wave activity disruption increases amyloid-beta levels acutely, and poorer sleep quality over several days increases tau. These effects are specific to neuronally-derived proteins, which suggests they are likely driven by changes in neuronal activity during disrupted sleep.
The study could answer a long-running question: the association between sleep disruption and alzheimer's disease can help prevent chronic sleep deprivation.
One of the study's authors, David m. Holtzman of the university of Washington, said: "we believe that chronic sleep quality in middle age can increase the risk of alzheimer's disease in old age."
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a gradual decline in cognitive ability and memory loss.
Five million people in the United States suffer from alzheimer's disease.
Over the past 15 years, the death rate from alzheimer's has increased by 55 percent.
Scientists are still looking for the exact cause of alzheimer's disease, finding that two proteins in the brain, amyloid beta and tau, are key indicators of the disease.
Previous studies have shown that sleep disturbances are associated with decreased cognitive decline (including alzheimer's), but the exact mechanism remains unclear.
The new study provides new insights into the mechanism of disclosure.
The team found that a night of sleep disturbances could increase the levels of beta-amyloid, and the levels of tau would increase if a week of sleep was not good.
"For the disturbance of sleep after, tau protein does not increase immediately, whereas amyloid beta immediately increase found that we are not surprised, because amyloid beta levels in normal circumstances change faster," one of the authors of the study, the university of Washington, yukio okamoto, EI - Ju said.
In the study, scientists included 17 healthy volunteers between the ages of 35 and 65 who had no sleep problems.
The volunteers were given activity monitors to record their sleep during the past two weeks.
The researchers also conducted a series of experiments in the sleep lab.
The sleep lab is a dark room with a comfortable bed, sound insulation and temperature control.
The volunteers had electrodes on their scalp to monitor activity in the brain.
The volunteers also wore headphones to disrupt their sleep.
In this study, the average volunteer's sleep was disturbed.
Each time the volunteers entered the slow-wave sleep mode (breathing deeply and not dreaming), the headset made noises and interfered with the volunteers' sleep until the brain activity increased.
The next morning, the sleep-deprived volunteers reported feeling sleepy and confused.
But interestingly, they don't remember waking up in the middle of the night.
The researchers then tested the volunteers' cerebrospinal fluid, and the researchers found that the amount of beta-amyloid in the volunteers who slept just one night was up 10 percent.
The researchers did not believe that poor sleep at night significantly increased the risk of alzheimer's disease, and the main concern was those who had chronic sleep problems.
Long-term sleep problems may lead to continued increases in beta-amyloid protein, which increases the risk of amyloid plaques and alzheimer's disease.
While the study does not determine whether good sleep reduces the risk of alzheimer's disease, good sleep is certainly not harmful to the body.