Getting too MUCH sleep ‘could be an early warning sign of dementia’ – so how much is too much?
SLEEPING for more than nine hours a night on a regular basis could be an early warning sign for dementia, experts have warned.
But before resetting the time your alarm goes off, the findings are only relevant in the over 65s.
Experts found those OAPs who consistently slept for more than nine hours had twice the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the next 10 years.
Professor Sudha Seshadri, from Boston University School of Medicine, said longer periods of sleep can also be a sign of depression.
Researchers looked at medical records of 2,457 people who were quizzed about their sleep patterns as part of the Framingham
heart study.
Over a ten year period, 234 of those participants were diagnosed with dementia.
The findings showed a statistically significant link between those who slept longer than nine hours a night, and developing the debilitating condition.
The results of the study, published in the journal Neurology, suggest that longer sleep sessions may be a symptom rather than a cause of the brain changes that occur with dementia.
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It does not mean that family members should intervene by waking up older loved ones, Prof Seshadri said.
She said earlier detection can help patients and their families plan and seek the support they need.
"Recognising the signs earlier can provide access to services, can enable people to get the admittedly limited, but valuable treatment options that are available, and could help protect them from potentially dangerous situations," she added.
Prof Seshadri said experts are not clear on how sleep can impact a person's risk of Alzheimer's.
She said they suspect the longer sleeping time may be “a compensatory mechanism for the brain to clear extra amyloid”, or protein fragments.
“It could also just be a marker of early disease,” she added.
"The question is, what is the pattern of sleep that is associated with increased risk of dementia," Prof Seshadri said.
"We know it is more hours, but what is happening in the extra hours?
"Are they in stage one sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, slow-wave sleep?
"Details like that can help us understand the precise biology."
Further research is due to take place to investigate the link.
The findings were published in the journal Neurology.
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