From beingpatient.com
Sleep is important for overall health, but many people struggle to get healthy sleep. Here's what to know about sleep and your brain, and the science-backed tools to help you rest tonight
There’s no set amount of sleep you need. Everyone’s a bit different. But to have a healthy brain, one thing’s certain: You need good, healthy sleep. Sleep is incredibly important, and yet 94 percent of dementia caregivers are sleep-deprived. Yet sleep can be one of the most important tools to take care of themselves.
The glymphatic system, a component of the brain that in recent years has been compared to a washing machine, acts to clear out toxic proteins and build-up of beta-amyloid while we sleep. Long-term disruption of our circadian rhythms has been linked to autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and mental health conditions like depression. The connection between sleep and overall health is so apparent to the medical community that sleep monitoring may soon be used as a diagnostic tool for neurodegenerative diseases.
Daniel Gartenberg, PhD, founder of SleepSpace, offers tips on how to improve your sleep. “Having a regular schedule and getting sunlight exposure in the morning is something really easy you can do. Research also suggests having an elevated temperature throughout the day, whether it’s through exercise or going into a sauna, helps,” said Gartenberg, “[because] it can make you have more deep sleep. Also, think about your sound environment and make sure it’s a quiet, cool and dark place when you’re sleeping.”
1. Treat sleep apnoea
If you suffer from sleep apnoea you are not alone. Almost 40 million Americans suffer from the condition, which despite being the most common sleep disorder, often goes untreated. Scientific reporter at Being Patient, Simon Spichak, MSc, chronicled his own journey discovering he had a severe form of sleep apnoea after consulting a sleep specialist.
Because sleep apnea can pose a heightened risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, dementia, and symptoms of mild cognitive impairment, treating it early is important. A recent study also found that the more severe people’s obstructive sleep apnoea, the more likely they were to have higher burdens of beta-amyloid plaques in the hippocampus.
A continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP) is helpful for many people diagnosed with sleep apnoea. The bilevel positive airway pressure machine (BiPAP) comes into play when a CPAP isn’t effective for sufferers of severe sleep apnoea. Beyond these machines, lifestyle changes like having a healthier diet and exercising regularly can also help.
2. Why losing a night of sleep might be a bigger deal than you think
Just one night of total sleep deprivation in healthy adults may cause significant changes in brain structure and make it appear similar to a brain that’s one to two years older. “Interestingly, after one night of recovery sleep, brain age was not different from baseline,” the researchers noted, meaning sleep can heal the damage done previously.
Beyond the above study’s results, pulling an all-nighter was found to increase the presence of tau protein, a biomarker of Alzheimer’s, in the brains of young men. After a night of sleep deprivation where participants around the age of 22 sat up in bed talking, watched movies or played games with the lights on, researchers saw a staggering 17 percent average increase of tau levels in their blood.
3. What to know about insomnia drugs
As many as half of adults over 65 report symptoms of insomnia, which may prompt a discussion around drugs that can be used to treat the condition. The medical community’s understanding of sleeping pills and their long-term effects is still somewhat unclear, exacerbated by the complex relationship between sleep and dementia.
Dr. Roger Wong, an assistant professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University said, “Popping these pills once in a while is probably fine. I mean, I do this, too. Like in lots of research, including one [study] of mine that I just recently published, it’s only really through long-term use [that sleeping drugs become a brain health problem.]”
Some studies indicate that certain medications for insomnia can increase the risk of dementia. But a small study at the Washington University’s Sleep Medicine Centre found that an insomnia drug called suvorexant (brand name Belsomra) actually helped reduce the levels of key Alzheimer’s biomarkers in cognitively healthy individuals.
Gartenberg says people should be wary of one specific sleep aid. “Ambien can be a really dangerous drug,” he said. “There’s no long-term study that’s ever shown that Ambien has a benefit. It’s really meant for jet lag.”
“One of the problems with some of these drugs is that a lot of times, you’ll perceive that you’re sleeping better,” said Gartenberg. “But some of these drugs negatively impact your sleep quality and you’ll have no conscious awareness of that. There’s also not such great evidence for less invasive things like melatonin.”
4. Psychologist-approved strategies to beat insomnia
Psychologists have outlined some cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques that could be useful to try before turning to medication. As much as we gravitate toward checking our phone, do your best to refrain from this as the bright light can lead to cognitive arousal.
Michael Perlis, PhD, director of the behavioural sleep medicine program at the University of Pennsylvania, recommends that if you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, leave your bed. “The problem with staying in bed for any appreciable amount of time is that this reinforces sleeplessness, physiologically and psychologically,” Perlis said.
Laying in bed unable to sleep can lead to rumination and an ongoing cycle of associating your bed with insomnia and restlessness. Relax yourself by reading a comforting book or listening to music until you start to feel tired.
5. The research on napping
Are naps actually good for your health? Current research says naps can be beneficial to an extent.
Researchers at Harvard University and University College London found that daytime napping may limit cognitive decline as a person ages. They discovered that on average a larger total brain volume was associated with more frequent napping of study participants. Other studies have found that even brief naps of five to 15 minutes can dramatically improve how well you perform mentally.
A study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that it is lack of deep sleep specifically that is linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Study author Dr. Brendan Lucey said, “The key is that it wasn’t the total amount of sleep that was linked to tau, it was the slow-wave sleep, which reflects quality of sleep. The people with increased tau pathology were actually sleeping more at night and napping more in the day, but they weren’t getting as good quality sleep.”
Another study found that sleeping too much during the day could be a sign that the beginning of Alzheimer’s may be impacting the part of the brain associated with staying awake. The study, which involved researchers examining the brains of 13 deceased Alzheimer’s patients, found significant tau protein build-up in all of the wakefulness brain regions, with some losing up to 75 percent of their neurons. If you are concerned about how naps could be affecting your health or if they’re indicative of another health problem, talk to your doctor about your specific concerns and sleep troubles.
6. Stress and bad sleep. It’s a vicious cycle
Research shows that the brain’s glymphatic system largely operates when people are in deep sleep, and acts to get rid of waste, and cycle nutrients through the brain. Sleep is a pillar of overall well-being just like diet and exercise. When people suffer from sleep problems, the body’s stress response is activated which affects different systems within the body and brain. The link between sleep and mental health is one that many people have experienced as a result of just a few nights of poor sleep; we may start to feel fatigued, disoriented, foggy, irritable and our productivity may decline.
The relationship between insomnia and mental illness is bidirectional, as 50 percent of adults suffering from insomnia have a mental health condition, and up to 90 percent of adults with depression experience sleep problems. The good news? If you suffer from insomnia, successfully treating it may directly reduce symptoms of depression.
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