Dementia is not a disease. It interferes with our daily activities and reduces our ability to remember, think or make decisions. “Dementia” is a general term for it. Research has identified a very important connection between dementia and sleep.
A new study has found that people’s bedtimes and the amount of time they spend in bed are key factors in the development this. A study of elderly people in rural China found that longer sleep and earlier bedtimes increased the percentage of developing dementia.
And even in people who don’t develop dementia, studies have shown cognitive decline associated with longer sleep and earlier bedtimes. Especially this is found only in the age group of 60-74 years and men. So today we are going to talk about the connection between dementia and sleep.
In 2014, researchers performed clinical examinations, in-person interviews, and laboratory tests on 3,274 people aged 60 and over to collect data on this. Of these individuals, 1,982 participated in a follow-up examination in 2018. There, the researchers studied several things.
That is, bedtime, mid-sleep time, or the median between bedtime and rise-time, to represent circadian phase, sleep latency and the proportion of time spent sleeping while in bed.
In this study, they released the results through various statistical models. Accordingly, 97 of the 1,982 participants in this follow-up study were diagnosed with dementia. The baseline age of the participants in this test was 70.05 years. Also, the results of this study conducted to find the connection between dementia and sleep revealed that the percentage of dementia was 69% higher for people who slept more than 8 hours. The risk doubled for those who went to bed before 9:00 p.m.
More studies on the connection between dementia and sleep have revealed that both insufficient sleep and sleeping longer than average have been causes of developing it. However, most of these studies have focused on people over the age of 65. But those tests have revealed that sleep patterns earlier in life may contribute to later dementia.
Another research team examined data from about 8,000 people in Britain over the age of 50. To assess the accuracy of this self-reporting, some participants wore accelerometers to objectively measure sleep time. Accordingly, during this study, it was revealed that 521 participants at the age of 77 were suffering from this.
Getting six hours or less of sleep is the main reason they develop dementia. 7 hours is defined as enough sleep for an average person. And another special thing revealed by these studies is that short sleep in middle life can increase the risk of developing dementia later in life. Thus, it is clear that there is a very important relationship between dementia and sleep. In addition, certain irregular and unhealthy daily habits can also lead to dementia.
Now let’s go to see what are the symptoms of dementia. In particular, the symptoms may vary. But there are some common symptoms of dementia.
Among them,
Memory loss.
Poor judgment and confusion.
Getting lost in a familiar neighborhood.
Experiencing delusions or paranoia.
Trouble handling money responsibly and paying bills.
Using unusual words.
Difficulty speaking and understanding.
Difficulty expressing yourself.
Difficulty reading and writing.
Taking longer to complete normal daily tasks.
Losing interest in normal daily activities or events.
Acting impulsively.
Not caring about other people’s feelings, etc.
So it is very important to follow a healthy and regular lifestyle if you want to avoid dementia. And now you know that the connection between the dementia and sleep, you may realize how important sleep is before develop the dementia.
Thx
welcome
Amiri Miles