Sleep disorders: early warning sign for dementia already at a young age!

Sleep disorders: early warning sign for dementia already at a young age!

Fulda, Deutschland - sleep problems are more than a nightly annoyance - you can be a serious warning signal for the development of dementia! Researchers from Canada and the German Alzheimer Society show alarming relationships between sleeping behavior and the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's. Der aktuelle Bericht der Fuldaer Zeitung hebt hervor, dass die ersten Anzeichen einer möglichen Erkrankung oft bereits Jahre vor einer offiziellen Diagnose are recognizable in sleep behavior. People who frequently fidget or move in REM sleep could have 80 to 100 percent higher risk of developing dementia.

Scientific studies confirm the central role of sleep for the health of the brain. According to Springer shows a U-shaped relationship between the duration of sleep and the risk of dementia: The lowest risk occurs at a sleeping time of seven to eight hours. On the other hand, those who regularly sleep less than six hours has significantly increased probabilities to develop dementia in later years of life. It is particularly alarming that a chronic lack of sleep can interfere with important cleaning processes in the brain. During sleep, beta-amyloid, a protein connected to Alzheimer's, is effectively removed from the brain.

In an extensive epidemiological study that accompanied participants for over 25 years, there were significant differences in the dementia rate, depending on the duration of sleep in the middle age. Subjects who slept constantly six hours or less had a 30 percent increased risk of illness. These findings illustrate the importance of a healthy sleep rhythm and urgency to take sleep problems seriously in order to protect and promote mental health in old age.