Neither too much nor too little sleep what you body needs is the key for you brain stay healthy at any age but, especially, from the age of 40. That reveals the study published a few months ago in the journal Nature Aging. The investigation has been carried out by Chinese and British experts from the Cambridge and Fudan universities regarding 500,000 individuals from 38 to 73 years old. The conclusions of the study show that those who they slept 7 hours a night had better results in the speed tests of information processing, visual attention, memory, and problem-solving abilityin addition to being less visible than anxiety and depression, compared to those who slept little and a lot. And the most affected area of the brain is the hippocampus, the center of memory.
Sleep quality is more important than you think
Sleep duration, psychiatric disorders, and dementias are closely interconnected in older adults.
The sleep durationlos psychiatric disorders and dementias are closely interconnected in the older adults. The hours we spend sleeping and the sleep quality They are much more important than we think. Going too far is just as bad as falling short. In another study published by the journal Sleep in 2017, scientists already warned of “growing evidence” that “sleep disturbances or lack of sleep may be a risk factor for Alzheimer disease“. With a participation of more than 69 thousand people between 40 and 91 years of agethe study showed that when sleep quality was poorthe chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of cognitive decline they were older.
What your brain does while you sleep
The famous neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard call the dream a “brain cleaner”. This world-renowned expert is the discoverer of the so-called glymphatic system, a kind of cerebral “lymphatic system”. This system allows cerebrospinal fluid to reach the brain and clean up waste substances during the deep sleep (slow wave) and not REM (rapid eye movement) precisely when the volume of cerebral blood flow decreases. According to experts from Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospitalthe glymphatic system stays in shape with the sleep quality and apparently with physical exerciseOn the contrary, it deteriorates with the lack of sleep and with the natural aging hence, it is highly probable that it plays a decisive role in the pathophysiology of neurological diseases such as neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases, normal pressure hydrocephalus, stroke or certain headaches. “The description of this system should lead to new possibilities of treatment for these diseases“, they explain.
