Experiencing this sleeping habit could mean you are twice as likely to develop dementia
A symptom that affects your sleep could be a warning sign of dementia, according to a new study. Researchers found that this sign could mean you are double as likely to develop the condition.
Dementia is a syndrome associated with the ongoing decline of the brain. This can lead to issues such as memory loss, personality changes, and mobility problems.
Therefore, health bodies often urge people to look out for forgetfulness or unusual behaviours to help identify dementia. But researchers say your sleeping habits could do the same.
A team of scientists from the University of California in San Francisco found that people who are increasingly sleepy throughout the day, and may take “excessive” naps, are twice as likely to develop dementia. As part of the study, which was published in Neurology journal, the team analysed the sleep patterns of 733 women aged 65 or over.
The average age of participants was 82, and none of them had cognitive impairment or dementia at the start of the trial. They wore a monitor on their wrists to record their 24-hour sleep-wake activity.
Participants also attended a clinic in person and completed a sleep log. Over a period of five years, the participants were categorised into three groups.
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As reported by Medical News Today, these were classed as:
- Stable sleep (SS) – stable or slightly improved sleep, which 321 women (43.8 per cent) demonstrated
- Declining nighttime sleep (DNS) – decreases in nighttime sleep quality and duration, moderate increases in napping, and worsening circadian rest-activity rhythms (RARs), which 256 women (34.9%) demonstrated
- Increasing sleepiness (IS) – large increases in both daytime and nighttime sleep duration and quality, as well as worsening circadian RARs, which 156 women (21.3 per cent) demonstrated.
After five years, the team also established whether participants had normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia. This was based on either multiple neuropsychological tests, physician diagnosis, or admission to a residential nursing home care.
Among the women in their 80s, 164 (22.4 per cent) of them developed mild cognitive impairment and 93 (12.7 per cent) developed dementia. It was found that women in the increasing sleepiness group had approximately double the dementia risk of those with stable sleep profiles.
But increased sleepiness was not associated with a greater risk of mild cognitive impairment. Study authors wrote: “Among community-dwelling women in their 80s, those with increasing 24-hour sleepiness over five years had doubled dementia risk during that time.
“Change in multidimensional 24-hour sleep-wake activity may serve as an early marker or risk factor for dementia in oldest old women.” This is not the first time research has linked sleep with dementia.
One study, published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia journal in 2016, revealed that high or low sleep duration increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Another, published in Nature Communications journal in 2021, showed that shorter sleep duration in middle age was linked with a higher dementia risk.
To lower your risk of dementia, the NHS recommends:
- Eating a balanced diet
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Exercising regularly
- Keeping alcohol within recommended limits
- Stopping smoking
- Keeping your blood pressure at a healthy level
- Staying socially active.