The US National Sleep Foundation recommends that seniors get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. A new study has shown that to maintain cognitive functions at a stable level, this norm can be significantly less. img src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1213e81b93447ab9b230635e94532948.jpg» />
To find the link between sleep duration and risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of Washington conducted a study of 100 older adults who undergo assessment of cognitive functions.
The sleep quality of the volunteers was monitored for 4-6 nights using a portable encephalography device. Participants provided cerebrospinal fluid samples to measure levels of beta-amyloid, a peptide that is the main component of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease, and tau, another marker of the disease. They also underwent a series of neuropsychological tests.
Volunteers who slept less than 4.5 hours or more than 6.5 hours per night showed the most significant cognitive decline over time. For those whose sleep duration was in this interval, the indicators remained stable. These results were confirmed even after adjusting for various factors, including age, gender, and amyloid-beta and tau protein levels.
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«All this suggests that there is a time range, a «golden mean» of sleep duration,» the authors of the study reported.
Scientists noted that the quality and duration of sleep in the elderly of people may be another marker of an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease in the elderly.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have previously found that older people who take 30 minutes or more to fall asleep are more likely to develop dementia within five years was 45% higher.
In addition, poor sleep quality, including the desire to constantly nap during the day, and its duration of 5 hours or less is closely associated with an increased risk of death from a range of other causes.