Tami Flu

Irregular Sleep Habits Linked to Alzheimer’s

A good eight hours of sleep really does our life good, well into the twilight years! A new study has found that sleep abnormalities in midlife may be linked to the onset of Alzheimer’s later in life. Chronic sleep abnormalities include  insomnia, late-night habits, sleep deprivation and irregular sleep habits.

Alzheimer’s is triggered as the peptide amyloid-beta transforms into plaque in the brain’s fluid, and amyloid-beta naturally increases during the day and decreases at night. Published in Science Express, neurologist Jae-Eun Kang and her colleagues found, in both men and mice, that concentrations of amyloid-beta increases during periods of sleep deprivation. When the researchers kept mice awake for an extra 6 hours, the levels of amyloid-beta spiked. So the scientists are suggesting that the sleep-wake cycle may play a role in the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Kang and colleagues furthered their study by treating the insomniac mice with almorexant, which is being tested as treatment for insomina. They found that the levels of amyloid-beta was suppressed, and fluctuations in natural wake cycle were eliminated. Plus, an 8-week treatment of almorexant decreased the amlyloid plaque build up in the mouse brain!

The scientists are saying these are preliminary results and further studies are needed to confirm the use of almorexant as therapy for Alzheimer’s. Meantime, maybe we really should get some sleep… unless you have the rare gene allows certain people to sleep on less hours without any adverse effect.

Via The Scientist; Image: sxc

Post from: Genetics & Health