Poor Sleep in Middle Age Linked to Late-Life Alzheimer's-Related Brain Changes

A study from the University of California, Berkeley published in the Journal of Neuroscience found cognitively healthy adults whose sleep quality deteriorated in middle age were more likely in late life to accrue Alzheimer's-associated proteins in the brain, reports the U.S. National Institute on Aging . The implication is that sleep assessment could eventually find use as a noninvasive, affordable predictor of Alzheimer's risk, or that treating sleep problems during "windows of sensitivity" in middle age might help retard disease progression. The researchers examined 101 older adults for beta-amyloid and tau level accumulation, and evaluated their sleep quality. Higher levels of beta-amyloid levels in the cortex and tau in the medial temporal lobe were detected in certain individuals, while shorter sleep periods among participants in their 50s or their 70s correlated with more beta-amyloid buildup in later life. Participants who reported shorter sleep in their 60s also exhibited significantly more tau in later life compared with those whose sleep increased or was unchanged.