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People who report a declining quality of sleep as they age from their 50s to their 60s have more protein tangles in their brain, putting them at higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life, according to a new study by psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley.
The new finding highlights the importance of sleep at every age to maintain a healthy brain into old age.
"Insufficient sleep across the lifespan is significantly predictive of your development of Alzheimer's disease pathology in the brain," said the study's senior author, Matthew Walker, a sleep researcher and professor of psychology. "Unfortunately, there is no decade of life that we were able to measure during which you can get away with less sleep. There is no Goldilocks decade during which you can say, 'This is when I get my chance to short sleep.'"
Walker and his colleagues, including graduate student and first author Joseph Winer, found that adults reporting a decline in sleep quality in their 40s and 50s had more beta-amyloid protein in their brains later in life, as measured by positron emission tomography, or PET. Those reporting a sleep decline in their 50s and 60s had more tau protein tangles. Both beta-amyloid and tau clusters are associated with a higher risk of developing dementia, though not everyone with protein tangles goes on to develop symptoms of dementia.
Sleep as a potential biomarker of tau and β-amyloid burden in the human brain (DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0503-19.2019) (DX)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday July 03 2019, @01:45PM (2 children)
They're NOT sure by any means. It's a preliminary study, and the actual study conclusions are full of "this suggests..." and "this might potentially..." They mostly speak of "associations" rather than causation. News reports often overstate things compared to the actual more hesitant language used by scientists in studies. (And, admittedly, scientists are sometimes more loose with the way they talk in interviews about their research. But even the quotation in the summary just says lack of sleep is "predictive" -- not necessarily causal.)
While I too always suggest caution in interpreting causality, off the top of my head, I already can think of several reasons why the causality might go the way suggested by the study (and not necessarily that "pre-Alzheimer's" is causing sleep disruption):
(1) Older people tend to have a higher incidence of sleep disorders which are clearly caused by other things. For instance, sleep apnea goes up as people age, which is often associated with obesity (something that also rises as people age) and other airway constriction. If we know the sleep disruptions have other causes, it seems less likely they are caused by "pre-Alzheimer's".
(2) We have numerous studies showing the importance of good sleep to create and cement memory. I'm just spitballing here, but since we know younger people don't remember things well if they have a lot of disrupted sleep, and one of the primary symptoms of Alzheimer's is memory loss, it's plausible to suggest a connection. Again, you're right -- it needs to be proven. But it's certainly plausible that disrupted sleep can contribute to certain symptoms of Alzheimer's already.
(3) Someone can correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not an expert on Alzheimer's by any means), but while I seem to recall Alzeimer's patients in advanced stages often exhibit disrupted sleep, I'm not sure disrupted sleep is necessarily a common symptom of early-stage Alzheimer's. If that's true, it may also suggest that the Alzeimer's isn't causing the sleep problems (at least initially).
Causation is always a much more difficult thing to track. But without looking at the full study (which seems to be paywalled), I don't feel I can evaluate how well they considered this question.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday July 04 2019, @02:23AM (1 child)
Thank you!
Sometimes I wonder why I give so much time to this site, and then I see a comment like this one.
Please accept a "+1 Insightful" from me!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday July 04 2019, @04:26AM
Study suggests it may be a pre-symptom of Alzeimer's (grim)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford