I'm Dr Richard Isaacson, here for Medscape. I'm director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian.
A new study looks at, for the first time, midlife sleep changes and how that affects cognitive function and Alzheimer's risk over time.[1] This was a large meta-analysis that pooled several studies, and it showed some really interesting things.
For a while now, we've known that sleep disturbances and Alzheimer's disease go hand-in-hand. There's been some really exciting research done on when a person isn't sleeping well—maybe that's like pressing the fast-forward button to amyloid in the brain.
This study is new and unique because it looks at midlife sleep complaints. For example, insomnia during midlife actually shows a higher risk for cognitive decline just a decade or so later. Nightmares in midlife also predict cognitive decline 20-30 years later. When a practicing clinical physician is trying to evaluate a person for Alzheimer's disease risk, doing a history on sleep is super important.
How do we intervene on sleep? Do we really know that this is a chicken or an egg thing? Is the sleep trouble really causing Alzheimer's disease or contributing to it, or is the sleep trouble really one of the earliest manifestations of what Alzheimer's disease is in the future?
Progression of Sleep Disturbances in Early Parkinson’s Disease
Infant Sleep Problems May Signal Mental Disorders in Adolescents
COMMENTARY
Cognitive Decline Associated With Middle-Age Sleep Problems
Richard S. Isaacson, MD
DisclosuresApril 06, 2018
I'm Dr Richard Isaacson, here for Medscape. I'm director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian.
A new study looks at, for the first time, midlife sleep changes and how that affects cognitive function and Alzheimer's risk over time.[1] This was a large meta-analysis that pooled several studies, and it showed some really interesting things.
For a while now, we've known that sleep disturbances and Alzheimer's disease go hand-in-hand. There's been some really exciting research done on when a person isn't sleeping well—maybe that's like pressing the fast-forward button to amyloid in the brain.
This study is new and unique because it looks at midlife sleep complaints. For example, insomnia during midlife actually shows a higher risk for cognitive decline just a decade or so later. Nightmares in midlife also predict cognitive decline 20-30 years later. When a practicing clinical physician is trying to evaluate a person for Alzheimer's disease risk, doing a history on sleep is super important.
How do we intervene on sleep? Do we really know that this is a chicken or an egg thing? Is the sleep trouble really causing Alzheimer's disease or contributing to it, or is the sleep trouble really one of the earliest manifestations of what Alzheimer's disease is in the future?
Medscape Neurology © 2018 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Cognitive Decline Associated With Middle-Age Sleep Problems - Medscape - Apr 06, 2018.
Tables
References
Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author
Richard S. Isaacson, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York
Disclosure: Richard S. Isaacson, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Serve(d) as a scientific advisor for: Accera, Inc