More than one in three Americans aren’t getting enough sleep, regularly logging less than the recommended seven hours of shut-eye each night. While many of us have experienced common symptoms of fatigue, irritability or poor concentration after a restless night, a recent article from CNN Health revealed sleep deprivation may have serious long-term consequences.
According to the article, a recent study from the journal of the American Academy of Neurology found that people who get less REM (dream-stage sleep), could be at a higher risk for developing dementia.
The study followed a group of people with the average age of 61 for 12 years, measuring sleep cycles and cognitive skills at regular intervals. Results showed that individuals who took longer than the typical 90 minutes to enter REM were more likely to develop dementia.
Armed with new insight on how REM sleep can be a predictor of dementia, researchers’ next steps will be to determine the role of sleep in the onset of the disease and eventually identify ways to intervene.
For those interested in lowering their dementia risk today, the article offered seven helpful tips:
- Gastrointestinal health has been linked with brain health. Incorporating fermented foods, probiotics and prebiotics into your diet could reduce your risk of dementia.
- Allow three hours between dinner and bedtime, and 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. The idea behind this type of fasting is that the body begins a process during the break that may help to destroy amyloid-beta, a problematic protein that builds up in brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
- Supplements like DHA and citicoline may help strengthen the connections between your brain’s nerve cells.
- If you consume tuna frequently, check your mercury level, since exposure to heavy metals has been associated with dementia.
- Overeating grains, starchy vegetables and sugar can generate harmful inflammation in the body and brain – so try to cut out simple carbohydrates.
- Seven to eight hours a night is ideal for the body to restore itself. If you’re having trouble staying asleep, receiving help from melatonin supplements or tryptophan may help.
- Scientists know the stress hormone cortisol can damage the hippocampus, a memory center in the brain. Hormone replacement therapy may help women who have an imbalance that affects their brain function.
Interested in learning more about Alzheimer’s and dementia? Check out our guide to help you understand the early warning signs, disease stages and more.