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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Feeling tired and depressed upon waking can be an early sign of dementia, and a bad night's sleep is a red sign of Alzheimer's disease, warn experts.
Tests have shown that people who do not sleep well have higher levels of toxic "Tao" in the brain, characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia.
"Measuring people's sleep can be a useful way to detect Alzheimer's disease before or when memory and thinking problems begin to develop," said Dr. Brendan Lucy of the University of Washington in St. Louis.
Changes in the brain leading to the onset of Alzheimer's disease occur slowly and silently. Two years before the appearance of signs of amnesia and confusion, toxic proteins begin to collect plaques in the brain. The clusters of these proteins begin to appear to dispel major parts of the brain.
At this point, people are beginning to show unambiguous signs of brain damage.
Scientists around the world are trying to find a way to track Alzheimer's disease, before these brain changes, to control the disease in its infancy. Dr. Lucy's team thinks that sleep may be the first step.
The researchers studied 119 people aged 60 and over, most (80%) were normal and did not suffer from dementia, the remaining 20% suffering from mild weakness.
The team follows participants' sleep at home for a week, taking into account brainwave readings, as well as body movements.
The researchers measured levels of amyloid protein and defrosting in the brain using fluid samples taken from the spinal cord.
The findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, showed that napping during the day was associated with higher levels of Tau protein, suggesting that excessive intermittent sleep during the day indicated an increased risk of dementia.
Similar results from the future suggest that sleep monitoring is needed to detect early Alzheimer's disease.
"These results do not tell us whether sleep deprivation is the cause of changes in the brains of adults with dementia," said Dr. Laura Vibes of the Alzheimer's Research Center in Britain.
"It's too early to say if trying to alter our sleep patterns can affect the development of dementia, but there is good evidence that physical activity and healthy eating can reduce risk," said Dr. James Pickett, Research Director at the Alzheimer Society. "He said.
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