![]() Sleep this way to add almost 5 years to your life Shot of an attractive young woman sleeping in her bed in the morning at home Adene Sanchez/E+/Getty Images The brain of a patient who had only 5% of their total sleep during the study in slow-wave or deep sleep looked 4.6 years older in terms of white matter abnormality compared to a patient who had 25% of their sleep in slow-wave sleep, he said. ![]() The examination of white matter hyperintensities showed similar results, Carvalho said. “We used this measure to investigate early white matter abnormalities associated with vascular disease.”ĭementia caused by vascular disease is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, experts say.Īfter factoring out conditions that could impact brain changes, such as age, high blood pressure and cholesterol, the study found each drop of 10% in slow-wave sleep was equivalent to three years of aging as measured by genu FA, Carvalho said. “Changes in the movement of the water in axons are related to problems in their integrity suggesting damage to its structure,” Carvalho said. The study looked at two biomarkers for damage in the brain: an increase in white matter hyperintensities and changes in fractional anisotropy of the genu of the corpus callosum (genu FA), which measures the movement of water inside fibers that connect neurons in the brain. Reduced levels of deep sleep increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, obesity and trouble regulating blood sugar levels. “Changes in the blood vessels can lead to stroke and poor blood supply to the brain can cause neuronal death or impairment of white matter, which can ultimately contribute to cognitive decline.” “All these changes lead to increase in inflammation in the body and brain, activation of stress hormones that will raise our blood pressure and affect our metabolism, blood may get thicker,” he said. With sleep apnea, oxygen drops, and carbon dioxide levels, blood pressure and heart rate rise, Carvalho said. All were without dementia and cognitively unimpaired during testing and had undergone one of two types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.Ībout 34% of the participants had mild sleep apnea, 32% had moderate and 34% had severe sleep apnea. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Neurology, looked at 140 people with an average age of 72 participating in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. “We have also seen associations between poor sleep quality and higher blood pressure, and high blood pressure can lead to brain lesions or stroke,” said Knutson, who was not involved in the new research. “Their findings are consistent with the literature that indicates sleep, including slow-wave sleep, plays an important role in maintaining brain health,” said sleep specialist Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Lower levels of white matter have also been connected to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and irritability. Having more white matter hyperintensities can slow the brain’s ability to process information, pay attention and remember, experts say. However, no treatment exists for such changes in the brain, “so we need to find ways to prevent them from happening or getting worse.” Carvalho said. “The association with sleep apnea was only unveiled when we isolated severe cases, suggesting that mild to moderate sleep apnea may not be significantly associated with white matter changes,” he said. Diego Carvalho, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. When the brain is scanned, small white spots, called white matter hyperintensities, show the extent of the damage.įor every 10% decrease in time spent in deep sleep, there was an increase of white matter hyperintensities in the brain similar to the effect of being 2.3 years older, said study coauthor Dr. White matter is the tissue that forms connections between brain cells and the rest of the nervous system. People with severe sleep apnea who spent less time in deep, also known as slow-wave sleep, had more damage to the white matter of the brain than people who had more slow-wave sleep, according to the study. Sleep problems linked to fivefold rise in stroke risk, study says
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