Restful sleep can protect against dementia

Restful sleep reduces the risk of dementia

20/01/2014

Scientists from Canada have probably found a link between the onset of Alzheimer's disease and the presence of a protein involved in lipid metabolism (APOE).

The vast majority of dementias occur at a higher age and are characterized by a creeping decline in cognitive function. At an advanced stage, those affected become more and more difficult to maintain their social contacts because of the progressive memory disorder. Not infrequently, they forget what they have said before, and at an advanced stage, even relatives are no longer recognized. But not only sufferers suffer from it. Also for relatives this diagnosis dementia is a stressful cut in the everyday life.

Among the symptoms that may indicate an onset of dementia include reducing the ability to speak and worsening the short-term memory. But also problems to be able to orient themselves are observed again and again. According to the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), an estimated 1.4 million people are affected by this condition in Germany, 700,000 of whom suffer from Alzheimer's dementia.

Sufficient sleep delays dementia
The team around Andrew Lim from the University of Toronto, in a study of around 700 men and women at an average age of 82 years, also recognized that adequate and restorative sleep can protect against Alzheimer's. Accordingly, at the beginning of the study, none of those affected suffered from dementia. As reported in the journal Yama, genetic analysis revealed that 150 people had a certain variant of the APOE protein, namely „Allele epsilon 4“wore in themselves. In turn, in 31 subjects who had Alzheimer's disease detected during the study, not only was this protein variant detected. Further analysis also showed that this group woke up more often at night and it was found in this context, up to four times increased risk of dementia than in those subjects who slept well at night and demonstrably not wearing the APOE variant in itself.

„The results could be used for new therapeutic approaches, as a mental decline in dementia can therefore be delayed by healthy sleep“, so the research team in the resume. Autopsies on deceased subjects showed „In addition, an increased deposition of amyloid-beta and other proteins involved in the development of dementia, the emergence of which is also favored by sleep deprivation“. (Fr)