Warning to bad sleepers: Tossing and turning even in early middle age spikes risk of memory problems later in life, study reveals

  • Researchers recorded the sleep patterns of 526 people using wrist trackers
  • Those with the worst sleep quality were 2.5 times more likely to perform poorly in tests

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Waking up during the night, even in middle age, can lead to memory problems later in life.

One study looked at people in their mid-30s to late 40s who were fitted with trackers on their wrists to measure their sleep over six days and nights.

Researchers calculated how restless these people were at night based on the percentage of time they spent moving, which indicates they woke up.

Those with the most interrupted sleep, compared to those with the least sleep, were more likely to do poorly in a series of tests about a decade later.

For example, people with the worst sleep quality were more than twice as likely to score poorly on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

One study looked at people in their mid-30s to late 40s who were fitted with trackers on their wrists to measure their sleep over six days and nights. Researchers calculated how restless these people were at night based on the percentage of time they spent moving, which suggests they woke up

This important test of thinking skills includes asking people to remember a list of words and do mental arithmetic after a delay.

Experts suspect that people who wake up frequently, perhaps due to work stress or a noisy or bright sleep environment, are worse at clearing potentially harmful proteins in their brains during sleep.

Even in middle age, in your 30s and 40s, this can affect thinking skills later in life.

The study, which involved 526 people, found that those with the most interrupted sleep were almost 2.5 times more likely to perform poorly on tests of their word fluency.

In these tests, they were asked to list as many words as possible that started with certain letters, or in a category such as animal names.

Dr. Yue Leng, who led the research at the University of California, San Francisco, said: 'Our findings suggest that it is the quality, not the quantity, of sleep that is particularly important for cognitive health in middle age.

'If someone is waking up at night due to the stress of work, or if they snore a lot and may have a condition called sleep apnea, which makes them restless, these are things they may want to address.

'They may be associated with poorer thinking skills and memory later in life.'

The study, published in the journal Neurology, also looked at how long people slept, but sleep duration was not found to be linked to thinking skills.

The people analyzed by researchers had taken part in a previous study, in which they wore a sleep tracker twice for three days in a row.

The two sleep measurements, conducted between 2003 and 2005, were taken about a year apart to determine people's average sleep quality, rather than a one-time snapshot.

Interrupted sleep was assessed based on the time people spent moving during the night, including periods when they remained still for no more than a minute at a time.

Researchers divided people into three groups and found a significant difference between the third with the worst sleep quality and the third with the best sleep.

The worst sleepers were almost three times more likely to do poorly on a thinking test that required them to remember which numbers belonged to a series of symbols.

The poorer performance in the tests was found after taking into account factors other than sleep that could play a role, including people's age and education, and conditions that could affect the brain, such as high blood pressure.

However, the study used wrist-worn trackers, rather than the gold standard sleep trackers that measure brain activity.

HOW MUCH SLEEP SHOULD YOU GET? AND WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE Struggling to GET ENOUGH

Toddler (3-5 years): 10am-1pm

School age (6-13 years): 9-11 am

Teenager (14-17 years): 8-10 hours

Young adult (18-25) 7-9 hours

Adult (26-64): 7-9 hours

Older adult (65 or more) 7-8 hours

Source: Sleep Foundation

WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE MY SLEEP?

1) Limit screen time an hour before bedtime

Our body has an internal 'clock' in the brain, which regulates our circadian rhythm.

Cell phones, laptops and TVs emit blue light, which sends signals to our brains to keep us awake.

2) Tap into your “racing spirit.”

Take 5-10 minutes before bedtime to sit down with a notebook and write down a list of everything you need to do the next day.

3) Avoid caffeine after noon

If you want a hot drink in the afternoon or evening, choose decaffeinated tea or coffee.

4) Maintain a cool bedroom temperature

Keep bedroom thermostats at around 18°C. During spring/summer, try sleeping with the bedroom window open to lower the temperature and increase ventilation.

5) Limit alcohol in the evenings

Although you may initially find it easier to fall into deep sleep, you will wake up frequently during the night and have poorer deep sleep overall.

6) Supplement vitamin D

Vitamin D plays a role in sleep. Vitamin D is widely available online and at most pharmacies.

If you are unsure whether this is suitable and how much you need, ask your GP for advice.

7) Ensure adequate intake of magnesium and zinc

Foods high in magnesium include spinach, kale, avocado, bananas, cashews and seeds.

Foods high in zinc include meat, oysters, crab, cheese, cooked lentils and dark chocolate (70%+).

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