It’s not how much we sleep, it’s also how: irregular sleep linked to increased risk of dementia

We know well that there is a relationship between sleep and health but unraveling the details of this is not always easy. Lack of sleep can cause severe problems, even death, while excess sleep can also be an indicator of a problem.

But not everything is a question of quantity, regularity (or irregularity) also counts.

Sleep and dementia. A study has found a curious relationship between our sleep and the appearance of dementia in advanced ages. According to the analysis, sleep irregularity could be a risk factor in the appearance of this disorder.

Quantity, quality or regularity. Very often health recommendations on sleep and sleep hygiene focus on how many hours We sleep, although we know well that there are other factors that can affect the relationship between health and sleep, such as whether we sleep this time “all at once” or in various stages.

“However, there is less emphasis on maintaining regular sleep habits,” explained in a press release Matthew Paul Pase, co-author of the work. “Our findings suggest that the regularity of a person’s sleep is also an important factor when considering a person’s risk of developing dementia.”

Measuring cycles. The team studied the sleeping habits of 88,094 British participants for a week with a average age 62 years. They used smart bracelets to measure this factor from which they generated a sleep regularity index based on the probability that at two specific points separated by 24 hours a person would be in the same sleep state.

This translated into an index with values ​​between 100 (a person who always falls asleep and wakes up at the same time) to zero (a person who falls asleep and wakes up at different times on each of the seven days).

They then followed these participants for seven years. In that time, 480 participants developed the disease.

Inverse relationship. The team found an inverse relationship between sleep regularity and the likelihood of developing dementia. This relationship was maintained, they explain, even when controlling for other risk factors such as age, sex or genetic factors.

Job details were published in an article in the magazine Neurologyedited by the American Academy of Neurology.

Correlation or cause? The team cautions that it is not possible, through the study, to reach the conclusion that irregular sleep causes dementia. There is a correlation between both variables but a direct cause-effect relationship cannot be established based on it.

We cannot rule out this causal relationship either, but more studies would be necessary to establish it truthfully. However, the detection of this new risk factor can be useful in detecting the disease and advancing the understanding of a complex disorder of which many unknowns still remain to be resolved.

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Image | Annie Spratt