Study connects sleep, Alzheimer's
Anisha Madappa
Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: News
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When testing mice, researchers from Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis found that a lack of sleep increased the quantity of a harmful protein called beta amyloid in the brain. This same protein is found in the brains of many Alzheimer's patients. As the mice slept, the researchers saw a decrease in beta amyloid but as the mice stayed awake, researchers found that the beta amyloid levels rose by 25 percent.
"Poor quality of sleep may speed up the onset of Alzheimer's disease in humans and regularly getting a good night's sleep could even slow its progression," the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
"Most adults need between seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Teenagers need more, up to 10 hours nightly," associate professor of medicine and medical director of the Drexel Sleep Center in Manayunk, Pa., Joanne Getsy said. "What most adults do is to cheat on their sleep during the week and then make up for it on the weekends. It's better to try to get more sleep nightly, but if that's not possible, at least recover whenever possible."
With mid-terms around the corner, Drexel students are lucky to get sleep when they can.
"Before a test day I get around four hours of sleep," Sahithi Gosala, pre-junior biology major ,said. "[The study] makes me think twice, but if I had an exam I [am] going to stay up, [not] think about Alzheimer's."
Anna Matthews, pre-junior biology major, said she'd rather think about Alzheimer's later instead of changing her sleeping habits.
Alzheimer's may only be associated with senior citizens, but a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's can only be done post mortem.
"Currently, a diagnosis of Alzheimer's really only can be guessed at based on behavioral changes," associate professor Keith Vosseller said. "Only upon autopsy and detection of Abeta plaques and Tau tangles can Alzheimer's be confirmed."
Plaques and tangles are protein fragments and fibers that, if present in the body in inadequate amounts and forms, contribute to the degradation of neurons in the brain, according to the Alzheimer's Disease Research Web site.
Though some find the St. Louis research compelling, many are still not sure if a lack of sleep is a contributing factor to Alzheimer's.
"Nowadays, everyone says everything's going to give you some disease," Kelly Lavin, a pre-junior chemical engineering major, said.
Aleister J. Saunders, associate biology professor, is wary to believe the study, as well.
"So far the data [is] interesting but I don't know if lack [of] sleep will be a risk factor for everyone or just a subset of seniors," Saunders said.
In addition, a recent Spanish study contradicted the St. Louis study and found that people who sleep more than eight hours nightly were twice as likely to get dementia.
Though research is continued to be done on the effects of a lack of sleep, the contradicting data has made it hard to find any of the evidence truly conclusive.
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