Alarming Sleep QUALITY Link to Brain Health
Most health problems are on the rise.
This is because society has moved away from a life that’s in harmony with nature.
One of the MANY problems this contributes to is a lack of good, quality sleep.
When you miss out on healthy, deep sleep, it’s not just feeling groggy the next day that you need to worry about…
A lack of quality sleep can have a catastrophic effect on your brain health.
Here’s what you need to know.
Research links missing out on rejuvenating sleep with an increased risk of dementia.
The recent study included 346 people with an average age of 69 who had completed two overnight sleep studies.
Seventeen years later, researchers saw ALARMING connections between lack of sleep and dementia.
For each percentage decrease in slow-wave sleep per year, there was a 27 percent INCREASED risk of developing dementia and a 32 percent HIGHER risk of Alzheimer’s.
The research showed that problems with slow-wave sleep increased after age 60 and was at its worst for those between 75-80.
This study highlights that when it comes to dementia risk, the QUALITY of your sleep is as vital as the amount.
Slow-wave sleep, or deep sleep, is a critical sleep stage that plays a role in growth, memory, and immune function. And you need plenty of it to feel refreshed the following day.
It’s also the phase when your body repairs itself and clears out harmful proteins, like Alzheimer’s-linked beta-amyloid plaque, from the brain.
Here are two simple ways to improve slow-wave sleep each night.
- The first is to make sure you get ENOUGH sleep time each night.
- The second is to control your core body temperature.
You can do this by increasing your body temperature (like through a hot shower/bath before bed or by exercising). This will encourage more heat loss during the night as your body cools down.
It also helps to sleep in a cool room that averages about 65 degrees.
P.S. The nutrient secret to better sleep.
SOURCE:
Himali JJ, et al. “Association Between Slow-Wave Sleep Loss and Incident Dementia.” JAMA Neurol. Published online October 30, 2023. doi:10. 1001 / jamaneurol.2023.3889
