Sleep deprivation speeds up dementia progression

The lack of sleep increases the speed of dementia, research shows.

According to a report by Dr. Mehdi Yorifee Harvard University School of Medicine and Sunning Boston University School of Medicine on 22nd (local time), the lack of sleep and the resulting destruction of bodily rhythm accelerate Alzheimer 's progress and cognitive decline. The report was published in the Journal of Neurophysiology published by the American Physiological Society.

Alzheimer's disease has been focused on two kinds of proteins in the brain. It is amyloid beta and tau protein. This is because many of these proteins are found in the brain of patients with this disease. Amyloid beta protein is related to brain learning and adaptive ability, and tau protein is said to help signal exchange between neurons (neurons).

Amyloid beta increases the level in the body even if it can not sleep for one night. This suggests that the body removes the overloaded amyloid beta in the brain through sleep. In fact, when the deep-sleeping slow-wave sleep was interrupted, the beta level of amyloid increased by 30%.

Tau protein usually appears in a convoluted form in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Tau protein in the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord means that the nerve cells are damaged. If we can not sleep one night, the Tau level of cerebrospinal fluid will rise to 50%.

Until now, it has been reported that amyloid beta generally acts at the onset of Alzheimer's, and Tau accelerates neural degeneration. However, the study found that the sleep / awakening cycle had a greater impact on tau than the amyloid beta, resulting in progression of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline. "A better understanding of this correlation could lead to the development of diagnoses and treatments for Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases," the report said.