The Impact of Sleep Hours on the Risk of Dementia

A recent scientific study revealed that regularly sleeping more than 8.5 hours a night may be associated with elevated levels of a protein that serves as an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers analyzed data from 2,410 participants in the renowned Framingham Study, whose average age was around 70, comparing sleep duration with levels of phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau181) in the blood, a biomarker linked to the pathological processes accompanying Alzheimer’s disease.

The results showed that levels of this protein began to rise among individuals who regularly slept between 8.5 and 9 hours per night, with a more pronounced increase observed in those who slept 10 hours or more. Researchers found that this association persisted even after controlling for other factors that could influence the results, such as age, depression, obstructive sleep apnea, kidney function, and genetic predisposition to the disease. They noted that other biomarkers examined were no longer associated with sleep duration after these statistical adjustments, whereas the link with p-tau181 remained significant.

The researchers emphasized that the study does not prove that long sleep duration directly causes Alzheimer’s disease, but rather suggests that the need for longer sleep hours may be an early sign of the onset of neurodegenerative changes in the brain. According to scientists, regularly sleeping 9–10 hours or more without a clear reason may be an indicator warranting attention to sleep quality and an assessment of brain health.

Source: Lenta.ru