United States: The data indicates that increasing daily sleepiness among senior citizens indicates their potential risk of developing dementia, according to research.
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Research findings appearing in Neurology documented that older women ages 80 suffered a doubled rate of dementia diagnosis when they showed increased daytime sleepiness trends during five years of observation.
According to the senior researcher Yue Leng, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California-San Francisco, “Sleep is essential for cognitive health, as it allows the brain to rest and rejuvenate, enhancing our ability to think clearly and remember information,” US News reported.
“Our study found that sleep problems may be intertwined with cognitive aging and may serve as an early marker or risk factor for dementia in women in their 80s,” Leng noted.
Study details
The researchers conducted five years of observation on 733 average 83-year-old women. The participants entered the study free from both dementia and mild cognitive impairment.
The female participants used wrist-worn trackers during three-day periods at both the beginning and final stages of the research.
Research devices revealed that 56% of participants underwent significant modifications in their sleep behavior throughout five years.
During the five-year period of the study, researchers observed the development of mild cognitive impairment in 22% of participants, while dementia affected 13% of the study group.
The study indicates that changes in sleep patterns serve as a predictor for cognitive decline based on research findings.
Of all participants with consistent sleep patterns, dementia developed in just 8%, whereas the rates increased to 15% for women whose night-time sleep deteriorated and rose to 19% among participants who experienced daytime somnolence, US News reported.
During the investigation, researchers established that women experiencing sleepiness deterioration faced twice the dementia risk following other risk factor adjustments.
Furthermore, “We observed that sleeping, napping and circadian rhythms can change dramatically over only five years for women in their 80s,” Leng added.
“This highlights the need for future studies to look at all aspects of daily sleep patterns to better understand how changes in these patterns over time can be linked to dementia risk,” she continued.