A new study from the Hopkins School of Public Health Johns Bloomberg (Baltimore-USA) reveals that elderly people who sleep little and badly develop amyloid plaques in their brain. However, the beta-amyloid protein, the main component of these plaques, is present in the neurons of people with certain neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease.
For this study, the team of Adam Spira, assistant professor in the department of neurology at the Hopkins School of Public Health, used medical data from 70 adults with an average age of 76 years. These volunteers reported how they slept, while the amount of beta-amyloid in their brains was measured with scans.
Sleep disorders and Alzheimer’s disease are linked
“There is a link between sleep and the amount of beta-amyloid accumulated in the brain,” said the study’s lead researcher, Adam Spira. Because, if we already knew that people with Alzheimer’s disease have some sleeping troubles, we found that healthy people with sleep disturbances develop amyloid plaques. »
According to the conclusions of his investigation, the researcher affirms that “it would be possible to prevent Alzheimer’s disease by sleeping better”, and that “our society is totally deprived of sleep, which is essential for well-being and Mental Health “.
Doctor Sam Gandy, director of the Mount Sinai Center for cognitive health (New York- United States), seems to confirm the statements of the researcher. He stated that “sleep appears to be necessary to clear toxins such as beta-amyloid from the brain” and that “there is a link between sleep disturbances and beta-amyloid accumulation”.
In France, more than 850,000 people are affected by Alzheimer’s disease and nearly 225,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
This study was published in the scientific journal “Journal of the American Medical Association” (JAMA).
