A good night’s sleep does not only concern the number of hours you record. Getting quality sleep – The genre that allows you to feel refreshed and ready for the day – is essential for a healthy brain.
People with disturbed sleep, such as insomnia or sleep apnea, have a higher risk of Dementia development that those who have no sleep problems. Bad sleep can also harm your brain in other ways. A study noted that people in the thirties and forties with a strongly disturbed sleep (such as frequent awakenings or movements) were two to three times more likely to test the executive function, working memory and the processing speeds about a decade later.
Scientists believe that the deep sleep and rapid sleep of eye movements (or REM) are particularly influential with regard to brain health and the risk of dementia. A Study published last month On people suffering from deep sleep and Rem, found that the brain of the subjects showed signs of atrophy in the MRI scans 13 to 17 years after the observation of the gaps; Atrophy looked like what you would find in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
What scientists have known so far
When you sleep, your brain continues continuously through four separate phases: two lighter sleep stages, when your body relaxes and your heart rate and your temperature drop; Deep sleep or slow sleep, when brain activity slows down; And TugWhen you usually dream. The brain usually takes about 90 minutes to travel the four steps, then restart the process.
Deep sleep and the REM help your brain to “cure” fatigue and stress and consolidate memories, said Matthew Pase, an associate professor at the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. In deep sleep, your brain regulates metabolism and hormones; It also acts as a “rinsing” for the brain, eliminating waste. Rem is when your brain treats the emotions and new information you have collected when you were awake.
The two phases influence the risk of dementia in different ways, according to scientists.
As part of the deep sleep rinsing process, your brain eliminates amyloid proteins which are a characteristic of Alzheimer. Years of deep sleep interrupted and incomplete rinsing – called glymphatic failure – could accelerate the appearance of dementia, said Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, professor of neurology at the medical center of the University of Rochester who does research on the glymphatic system.
Scientists understand less how REM is linked to the risk of dementia, said Dr. Roneil Malkani, an associate professor of sleep medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine of the Northwestern University.
A 2017 study Of more than 300 people, more than 60 years have found that a shorter quantity of sleep per night at REM, and taking more time to reach the REM phase in each sleep cycle, were both predictors of dementia later in life. This could be due to the fact that the REM is “of vital importance” for the storage and treatment of memories, and the loss of this capacity weakens brain defenses against cognitive decline and can accelerate atrophy in certain parts of the brain which is not used, said Dr. Paste, who co-written the study.
It is also difficult to disentangle the “chicken and egg” relationship between sleep and dementia, and if bad sleep permanently causes it, said Dr. Paste. Adults (especially women) Spend naturally Less time in deep sleep and rem as they get older. Scientists already know that aging itself increases the risk of dementia, but dementia also tends to worsen sleep. It is possible that the two processes “consist of each other,” he said.
Tips for a better night’s sleep
It is generally difficult to target the individual sleep stages for improvement, and as you age, experts think that it can be more difficult to change the brain’s sleep cycles. But there is no drawback to improve your sleep hygiene, which is an effective way to Boost your sleep overallIncluding deep sleep and Rem, said Dr. Malkani.
Taking about seven hours of sleep per night is the simplest step you can take. This gives your brain enough time to travel its stages between four and seven times, he said.
Research has shown that people who sleep six hours or less one night in their fifties, the 1960s and 70s have a 30% increased risk of dementia Later in life, suggesting that it is never too late to improve your sleep, said Bryce Mander, an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California in Irvine.
Having time of sleep and coherent awakening can help you fall asleep, said Zsófia Zakecz, a postdoctoral researcher at the Brain Lab adaptive at the University of Cambridge.
In addition, the parts of the brain that are strongly used during the day tend to present slower brain waves During sleep, so do anything that “engages the brain significantly for a while”, as learning a new skill, could exhaust certain parts and increase their restful and slow need for sleep, said Dr. Zakecz.
Exercise can keep you mentally engaged and Increase blood circulation In the brain, which is useful in glymphatic clearance, said Dr. Nedergaard. The minimization of stress also stimulates the process, she added.
So how do you know if you sleep enough? Trackers or applications of portable smartphones can estimate the time you spend in each cycle, but Dr Malkani said it was more useful to ask you: “How do I feel when I wake up?” And if you wake up in the middle of the night, ask “how long did it take me to fall asleep?”
In general, putting aside enough time to sleep is the best way to guarantee that your brain reaches deeper steps – and depending on deficits, it can spend more time in REM or Sleep Deep while it cyclic, said Dr. Paste. “Let the brain do its thing, and it will end as it needs,” he said.