Did too little sleep give Maggie and Reagan dementia?

BETA-AMYLOID is a sticky, toxic protein that builds up in the brain. It is a key cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

Now research shows that a lack of sleep can cause amyloid to accumulate — and, as a consequence, people may develop dementia sooner.

Studies on mice by Professor Maiken Nedergaard, a neurologist at the University of Rochester in New York, reveal how a kind of sewage network, called the glymphatic system, exists within the brain.

It removes dangerous metabolic contaminants generated by neurons — including amyloid protein.

The system kicks into high gear when you are asleep.

Professor Nedergaard’s research has shown that If you prevent a mouse from getting deep sleep, there is an immediate increase in amyloid deposits in its brain.

This starts a vicious cycle: without sufficient sleep, amyloid plaques build up in the regions that generate deep sleep, attacking and degrading them. The consequent loss of deep sleep further lessens the ability to remove amyloid at night. More amyloid equals less deep sleep; less deep sleep equals more amyloid, and so on.

Numerous studies show that getting too little sleep across the adult life span will significantly raise your risk of Alzheimer’s.

I always found it interesting that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, who were both very vocal about sleeping only four to five hours a night, developed dementia. U.S. president Donald Trump is also a vociferous proclaimer of sleeping just a few hours a night. He may want to take note.

Improving someone’s sleep may reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s or at least slow it.

Clinical studies in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in 2008 showed that successfully treating middleaged and older adults’ sleep disorders delayed their onset of dementia by five to ten years.