A team of Canadian scientists have discovered that abnormal sleep patterns might lead to Alzheimer’s disease. We do know for a fact that the lack of sleep can drive us crazy, but the team from the University of Toronto have actually been able to find a link between sleep and dementia.
Sleep deprivation can harden the brain arteries
While studying the effects of sleep on the human brain, a team of scientists hailing from Canada has uncovered that the effects of fragmented sleep can be much more severe for seniors than for younger people.
People having abnormal sleep pattern can wake up even 7 times during an hour. The team pointed up that these waking episodes are capable of wreaking havoc on our nervous system.
First of all, multiple waking episodes during the night have been known to force the blood to rush through the arteries located in our brain. In time the walls of the arteries will become more rigid and will eventually harden, thus impeding the circulation of blood.
Seniors who exhibit abnormal sleeping pattern are 50 percent more likely have rigid brain arteries. Moreover, the scientists also managed to discover a link between the lack of sleep and brain strokes. According to their findings, it would seem that senior who have trouble getting a good night’s sleep have an increased to suffer from brain strokes.
Furthermore, as the oxygen supply to our brain drop, the rate of brain necrosis become much more acute.
Autopsies revealed that sleep might play a key role
In order to see if there is indeed a correlation between abnormal sleep patterns and brain strokes, the team of scientist used the data gathered during autopsies.
Since the beginning of the study, the team performed 315 autopsies. The average age of the subjects was 90 years old. According to their declarations, the test subject received a thorough evaluation on their quality a sleep a week before they died.
After performing the autopsies, the team of Canadian researchers has discovered that approximately 29 percent of the test subjects suffered from a severe brain stroke. Moreover, the autopsies revealed that more than half had damaged brain arteries.
Scientists have concluded that it is very likely that abnormal sleep patterns might lead to Alzheimer’s, although the result of their study was unable to establish a direct correlation between sleep deprivation and dementia.
In conclusion, the results have shown that 27 percent of the test subjects had rigid blood vessel. Moreover, it seems that the test subjects with the rigid brain blood vessels also had multiple waking episodes during the night.
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