Unlock the secrets of cognitive health: Disrupted sleep in your 30s and 40s may hold the key to future memory and thinking problems.
- Disrupted sleep in your 30s and 40s may increase the likelihood of memory and thinking problems a decade later
- It is important to understand early-life sleep patterns and their impact on cognitive functions
- Individuals with the most disrupted sleep were over twice as likely to experience poor cognitive performance
Sleep Duration and Sleep Quality of Affect Cognition
Published in the journal Neurology, the study delves into the duration and quality of sleep to unravel its impact on cognitive functions (1✔ ✔Trusted SourceThe consequences of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance
Go to source). The research involved 526 participants who, over two occasions about a year apart, wore wrist activity monitors for three consecutive days. Despite averaging six hours of sleep, participants reported bedtime and wake time in sleep diaries and provided data for a sleep quality survey. The survey, scoring sleep quality from zero to 21, with higher scores indicating poorer sleep quality, revealed that 46% (239 individuals) reported poor sleep with scores greater than five.
Sleep Linked with Alzheimer's Disease
Considering that signs of Alzheimers disease manifest in the brain decades before symptoms emerge, understanding the link between sleep and cognition in earlier life stages becomes paramount. Recognizing sleep problems as a potential risk factor for the disease gains significance. The study emphasizes, "Our findings indicate that the quality rather than the quantity of sleep matters most for cognitive health in middle age," as highlighted by study author Yue Leng. This revelation underscores the importance of addressing sleep quality in the middle-aged demographic to potentially mitigate cognitive decline and enhance overall brain health.Reference:
- The consequences of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37045455/)
Source-Medindia