Sleep More to Potentially Prevent Alzheimers

Alzheimer's Disease is one of the meanest diseases (if you can characterize a disease as such) in existence today.  Over 5 million Americans live with the reality of Alzheimer's every day...and this number is way too large for my liking, considering how far medicine has come especially in the last perhaps 30 years.  What is Alzheimer's Disease (AD)?

According to The Alzheimer's foundation, AD is:

"a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the brain's nerve cells, or neurons, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills, and behavioral changes."  Neurons destroyed in the hippocampus impairs memory function while death of neurons in the cerebral cortex causes language skill impairment and judgment decline.  Alzheimer's is characterized by the presence of beta-amyloid plaque (between cells) in the brain as well as neurofibrillary tangles (within cells).  It is the most common cause of dementia in adults ages 65 and older.

I believe that I have mentioned this fact before, but my grandmother has been diagnosed with dementia for several years now, although interestingly she have never been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  She has in fact been tested for AD (a couple of times) but she passed 'with flying colors' each time.  As much as I want to believe her clinicians, I cannot help but think that she has perhaps developed it, and is only in its early stages, as she uses her intelligence to fool her doctors.

According to Dr. Holtzman'z article about AD, sleep loss is correlated to amyloid plaque buildup: the hallmark of AD in a patient's brain.  Beta-amyloid actually builds up in the brain 10-20 years before memory/ cognition impairment presents in AD patients.  This plaque buildup in the brain decreases the presence of a-beta42 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a finding associated with AD patients as many as 15 years or more prior to the presentation of cognitive symptoms.  Importantly, low CSF levels of a-beta42 were found to correlate with poor sleep quality, although not necessarily sleep quantity (TST).  This finding is very logical to me, as it is known that sleep quality decreases generally across the lifespan (less REM sleep, less SWS sleep, and shorter duration overall).  Therefore, maybe we all increase our risk for developing AD as we get older...but we can slow or maybe prevent its arrival by giving ourselves better sleep.

Improved sleep begins now, in college, as we transition into total independence and control of our schedule.  The article also mentioned that improved exercise helps rid the brain of plaque buildup -- another sensible finding because exercise helps one sleep better.  With better sleep comes improved diet too, because we are not craving things like fast food.

I would like to see more research and resources poured into the area of sleep as it relates to memory function and the development of AD, as it is relevant to my future and the rest of my generation.  For now, I can continue to improve my sleep habits.

This week I commented on Kiara Stewart and Jace Ryan's blogs.