A study conducted at the Sleep Medicine Center of the Molinette hospital in Turin shows that insomnia and apnea can affect the course of Alzheimer’s
The quality and quantity of sleep are essential to live well every day, but a scientific research published in the international journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications shows that sleeping well is very important also because a sleep deficit can adversely affect the course of a serious illness, theAlzheimer.
Sleep and Alzheimer’s
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People who have disturbed sleep have a major brain deposit of a protein, beta-amyloid, which is implicated in the genesis of Alzheimer’s. In fact, the body eliminates this protein during sleep, thanks to the work of the glymphatic system, which operates especially in the period in which we are struggling with a deep sleep. If you sleep little or have disturbed sleep, the glymphatic system fails to properly cleanse the brain and therefore the beta-amyloid protein accumulates and can favor the onset of Alzheimer’s.
The research conducted at the Molinette hospital
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Some doctors from the Sleep Medicine Center of the Molinette hospital in the Città della Salute and some researchers from the University of Turin collaborated on the study which was published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications. It’s about research conducted on mice that, for one month, which corresponds to three years of human life, they were awakened during sleep and this led to notice an impairment of the glymphatic system and an increase in beta-amyloid protein, which also irreversibly damaged the cognitive functions of mice, even in those who were still young.
Bad sleep and Alzheimer’s link
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So let’s try to understand what it means for man what was discovered by the researchers of the Molinette Sleep Medicine Center, directed by Professor Alessandro Cicolin, and of the Neuroscience Institute of Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), directed by Professor Michela Guglielmotto, both referring at the “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neuroscience of the University of Turin. Research has shown that sleep fragmentation strongly negatively affects the work of the glymphatic system. The beta-amyloid protein is implicated in the genesis of Alzheimer’s and therefore in patients predisposed to this disease from an early age, if sleep is disturbed, neurodegenerative processes can set in which can then in turn compromise sleep regulation. A vicious circle is therefore created which leads the patient to sleep worse and worse and the progression of Alzheimer’s is accelerated in him.
The importance of sleep for the brain
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During the sleep they come eliminate neurotoxic substances from our brain, moreover, sleeping helps regulate the metabolism, but also the circulatory and immune systems. Both the quantity and quality of sleep are important. Disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome impair the quality of sleep and are therefore considered risk factors for various diseases, from diabetes to high blood pressure, from obesity to cancer, from heart attack and stroke to dementia. The research of the Turin doctors once again emphasizes the importance of health prevention policies also in the field of sleep.
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