Need an afternoon nap? It may be sign of Alzheimer’s
CATNAPPING could be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research.
Brain cells that help to keep us awake during the day are the first to go in people affected by the disease.
Scientists found they are being destroyed by the spread of toxic clumps of a protein called tau, rather than another known as beta-amyloid.
Senior author of the research Professor Lea Grinberg, of the University of California, said: “Our work shows definitive evidence the brain areas promoting wakefulness degenerate due to accumulation of tau – not amyloid protein – from the very earliest stages of the disease.”
Alzheimer’s damage can take root up to 20 years before clinical symptoms appear. It could be why medications have so far failed, because they are given to trial participants too late.
Scientists may also have been aiming at the wrong target – amyloid proteins instead of tau.
The study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia, shows that excessive napping – particularly when you do not have problems sleeping at night – may serve as an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s.
Previous research from the same team showed people who died with elevated levels of tau in their brainstem had begun to experience changes in mood.
These included anxiety and depression, as well as increased sleep disturbances.
Prof Grinberg said: “Our new evidence for tau-linked degeneration of the brain’s wakefulness centres provides a compelling explanation for those findings. “It suggests we need to be much more focused on understanding the early stages of tau accumulation in these brain areas in our ongoing search for Alzheimer’s treatments.”
Evidence is growing that tau is more closely linked to the actual symptoms of Alzheimer’s than amyloid, which is the main target of drugs development.
Dementia affects 850,000 people in the UK. Of these, around six in 10 have Alzheimer’s.