Disrupted sleep in your 30s and 40s? There are consequences…
Saturday, May 18, 2024.
Greetings, gentle reader. Are you sleeping ok?
Did you know that, for some of you, how you’re sleeping now might be carving grooves into your cognitive destiny?
As you’ve probably noticed, this blog has an ongoing focus on sleep science.
A recent study has suggested that disrupted sleep patterns that are established in your 30s and 40s might impact memory later.
But wait, there’s more. Another study has concluded that humans with erratic sleep patterns could face a whopping 53% higher risk of dementia.
Together, these 2 studies point to the increasingly nuanced relationship between sleep quality, timing, and cognitive health…
Dr Yue Leng, one study’s first author, had this to say:
“Given that signs of Alzheimer’s disease start to accumulate in the brain several decades before symptoms begin, understanding the connection between sleep and cognition earlier in life is critical for understanding the role of sleep problems as a risk factor for the disease.”
How the study was conducted
The first study tracked over 500 (okay, 526 ) humans for 11 years. This longitudinal study focused on how well and how long people slept.
The study subjects wore wrist-activated monitors to measure their sleep at two intervals a year apart.
The results revealed that they slept for six hours on average, and 46% reported poor sleep quality.
Further sleep surveys and memory examinations indicated that humans with disrupted sleep patterns were twice as likely to have poor cognitive performance as the less sleep-disrupted cohort.
Interestingly, humans with moderate sleep disruption did not differ significantly in their midlife cognitive performance.
This study suggests a possible link between disrupted sleep in midlife (your 30s and 40s, to be specific) and later measurable cognitive decline.
The impact of irregular sleep patterns…
The next study I want to discuss focused more on sleep irregularity, meaning consistently sleeping and waking at the same times
Dr Matthew Paul Pase, study co-author, said:
“Sleep health recommendations often focus on getting the recommended amount of sleep, which is seven to nine hours a night, but there is less emphasis on maintaining regular sleep schedules.”
How the study was conducted
The study examined 88,094 humans across the UK. Their average age was 62 years old.
Over 7 years, researchers tracked their sleep patterns using wrist devices.
The research measured sleep regularity by assessing the likelihood of being in the same sleep state 24 hours apart over a week.
Among these participants, 480 developed dementia and the study revealed a connection between irregular sleep and dementia risk.
The highest dementia risk was observed in those with the most irregular sleep patterns.
Individuals with extremely erratic sleep faced a 53 percent higher dementia risk compared to those in the middle group.
Surprisingly, those with the most regular sleep patterns did not exhibit lower dementia risk than the middle group.
Even modestly increasing sleep regularity from highly irregular to average levels could potentially lower dementia risk.
Dr. Pase recommends improving sleep regularity through sleep health education and behavioral therapies:
“Based on our findings, people with irregular sleep may only need to improve their sleep regularity to average levels, compared to very high levels, to prevent dementia.”
Be Well, stay Kind, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Pase, Matthew & Harrison, Stephanie & Misialek, Jeffrey & Kline, Christopher & Cavuoto, Marina & Baril, Andrée-Ann & Yiallourou, Stephanie & Bisson, Alycia & Himali, Dibya & Leng, Yue & Yang, Qiong & Seshadri, Sudha & Beiser, Alexa & Gottesman, Rebecca & Redline, Susan & Lopez, Oscar & Lutsey, Pamela & Yaffe, Kristine & Stone, Katie & Himali, Jayandra. (2023). Polysomnography derived sleep metrics and cognition in the Sleep and Dementia Consortium (SDC): a study of 5 population‐based cohorts. Alzheimer's & Dementia. 19. 10.1002/alz.074411.
