Feeling sleepy during the day may trigger Alzheimer's: Researchers

In a significant finding Johns Hopkins researchers have revealed that those who feel sleepy during the day are nearly three times more likely to develop Alzheimers disease than those who have a good nights sleepAn analysis of data captured during a longterm study of ageing adults showed that those who report being very sleepy during the day were nearly three times more likely than those who didnt to have brain deposits of betaamyloid a protein thats a hallmark for Alzheimers disease years laterThe finding reported in the journal SLEEP adds to a growing body of evidence that poor quality sleep could encourage this form of dementia to develop suggesting that getting adequate nighttime sleep could be a way to help prevent Alzheimers diseaseFactors like diet exercise and cognitive activity have been widely recognised as important potential targets for Alzheimers disease prevention but sleep hasnt quite risen to that status although that may well be changing said Adam P Spira Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthSpira led the study with collaborators from the National Institute on Aging NIA the Bloomberg School and Johns Hopkins MedicineIf disturbed sleep contributes to Alzheimers disease we may be able to treat patients with sleep issues to avoid these negative outcomes Spira addedThe study used data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging BLSA a longterm study started by the NIA in 1958 that followed the health of thousands of volunteers as they ageBefore adjusting for demographic factors that could influence daytime sleepiness the results showed that those who reported daytime sleepiness were about three times more likely to have betaamyloid deposition than those who didnt report daytime fatigueAfter adjusting for these factors the risk was still 275 times higher in those with daytime sleepinessThe unadjusted risk for amyloidbeta deposition was about twice as high in volunteers who reported napping but this did not reach statistical significanceIts currently unclear why daytime sleepiness would be correlated with the deposition of betaamyloid protein Spira saidOne possibility is that daytime sleepiness itself might somehow cause this protein to form in the brainBased on previous research a more likely explanation is that disturbed or insufficient sleep due to other factors causes betaamyloid plaques to form through a currently unknown mechanism and that these sleep disturbances also cause excessive daytime sleepinessHowever we cannot rule out that amyloid plaques that were present at the time of sleep assessment caused the sleepiness added the researchersCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever