There’s still so much we don’t know about Alzheimer’s disease, but the link between poor sleep and worsening disease is one that researchers are exploring with gusto. Using sleeping pills to get some shut-eye could reduce the build-up of toxic clumps of proteins in fluid that washes the brain clean every night. a common treatment for insomnia, for two nights at a sleep clinic experienced a slight drop in two proteins, amyloid-beta and tau, that pile up in Alzheimer’s disease. Sleep disturbances can be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease that precedes other symptoms, such as memory loss and cognitive decline. And by the time the first symptoms develop, levels of abnormal amyloid-beta are almost peaking, forming clumps called plaques that clog up brain cells. Using sleeping pills for prolonged periods is not an ideal solution for those short on sleep either, as it’s quite easy to become dependent on them. improving sleep with the aid of sleeping pills could lower levels of tau and amyloid-beta in the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord. Sleeping pills may also lull people into shallower bouts of sleep rather than deep sleep phases. This could be problematic as earlier research from Lucey and colleagues found a link between less good quality, slow-wave sleep and elevated levels of tau tangles and amyloid-beta protein. However, this effect was only seen with some forms of tau, and tau concentrations sprung back up within 24 hours of taking the sleeping pill. In other words, sleeping pills may help some people get some shut-eye but using them as a preventative treatment to ward off Alzheimer’s disease is still a hazy prospect that hangs on a now-shaky hypothesis of Alzheimer’s pathology. increasing evidence linking sleep disturbances to Alzheimer’s disease, a disease for which no treatments exist. Lucey says improving sleep hygiene and seeking treatment for sleep problems such as sleep apnea are both sensible approaches to improving general brain health at any age
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Friday, October 3, 2025