For some time now, the ties between sleep quality and cognitive decline are studied: we understand that the two are linked, but it is not yet perfectly clear to us how. Now a large study conducted on 2,750 US Ultra -Cinquenance has dug the question even more deeply, discovering that chronic insomnia modifies the brain making it more vulnerable to cognitive decline. The results are published in detail on Neurology.
The researchers followed the volunteers, 440 of which suffered from chronic insomnia, for five and a half years: memory tests and brain scans highlighted a correlation between bad quality of sleep and cognitive decline, highlighting that those who slept little and badly was 40% more inclined to develop a slight cognitive or dementia decay during the study period.
Spies of dementia. The brain of those who suffered from insomnia and slept less hours than normal already showed at the first four -year test of more than the real age. The brain scans also highlighted two important signs, spies of possible future cognitive problems: an accumulation of amyloid plates, anomalous aggregates of the beta-amyloid protein, and small injuries to the white substance (a phenomenon known as hyperingness of the white substance), the part of the brain that contains the nerve fibers. On the contrary, those who suffered from insomnia but in the study period they were sleeping more than normal had less damage to the white substance than the average.
Looking for a solution. These results, while strengthening the idea that bad quality of sleep and cognitive decline are connected, they do not clearly show in which direction to act: the equation “to take care of insomnia = avoid dementia” does not seem to work, since – as the expert Timothy Hearn recalls in an article of The Conversation – “a bad quality of sleep often accompanies depression, anxiety, chronic pain – They give their brain ». It is however important to act on the risk factors of cognitive decline, such as chronic insomnia, cholesterol and hypertension – and do it as soon as possible.
