Getting a good night’s sleep is important for preventing Alzheimer’s because the brain’s glymph system cleans up abnormal proteins when we sleep. Sleep disturbance may increase the risk of dementia. Getty Images Bank
It has been confirmed that sleep disturbance acts as a factor that causes dementia, such as aging, cerebral infarction, and hypertension, increasing the risk of dementia.
Han Su-hyeon, a professor of neurology at Chung-Ang University Hospital, said, “In Alzheimer’s dementia, various abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain, and the brain’s glymph system cleans these proteins. That’s why it’s so important to get a good night’s sleep.”
For humans, sleep conserves energy, restores the body, and specifically consolidates memories into long-term memories. During the day, during various activities, memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus of the brain as short-term memories, and then are stored as long-term memories during deep sleep at night and are transmitted to the cerebral cortex.
In fact, several epidemiological studies have shown that there is a difference in cognitive function between the sleeper group and the sleepless group. In 2006, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School conducted a survey of 70-81-year-old women aged 70 to 81, and as a result of a study in an international journal (international scientific journal) It was published in the Alzheimer Dis Assoc Discord. Subjects also had lower overall cognitive function scores, even if they had insomnia, which made it difficult to sleep regularly.
In addition, according to a paper presented in 2012 by the Dutch Neuroscience Research Institute to the International Psychological Association, it was found that not only the elderly but also children aged 5-12 years old were affected by the cognitive function such as executive function and performance ability and the decline in grades if the sleep time was short.
It is important to develop a healthy sleep habit because sleep disorders act as a cause of dementia. Professor Han said, “For a healthy sleep habit, it is necessary to find out the exact cause of the sleep disorder. Because the causes of sleep disorders vary from simple insomnia to obstructive sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome, we need to find and treat the underlying cause.”
To get a good night’s sleep, it is better to use the bed or bedroom only as a sleeping space. It is important to adjust the stimulus conditions that control sleep, such as bedtime, bedtime, and bedroom, by doing activities that interfere with sleep outside the bedroom. The longer you lie down without falling asleep, the lower the efficiency of sleep, which interferes with getting a good night’s sleep.
In this case, ‘sleep restriction therapy’ can help. Sleep restriction therapy is a method to increase sleep efficiency by artificially inducing mild sleep deprivation. It is a treatment that increases sleep pressure by lengthening waking hours and allows you to sleep better by improving sleep.
Professor Han said, “Using an appropriate sleeping pill is helpful for temporary insomnia, but the effect may be temporary because it does not treat the cause of insomnia.” must,” he said.
