Good Sleep Quality Can Prevent Brain Diseases

On February 19, 2020, the scientific journal Plos One published a new study on the importance of good sleep quality. According to the publication, there is evidence that adequate sleep can prevent brain diseases.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI) project, sponsored by the Institut Guttmann and La Caixa, in Barcelona (Spain).

They based it on data collected through online questionnaires from volunteers ages 40 to 65 who had no health problem related to the subject.

In total, they followed the sleep patterns of 4,500 people for a year. Thus, they established that good sleep quality is decisive for reducing the risk of neurological or neuropsychiatric disorders. They also confirmed that these diseases alter normal sleep.

The study

Research into good sleep quality and its effects on brain diseases began in 2017 with 4,500 volunteers. Of these, 2,353 people continued to provide data for a full year. Of the latter, 73 were eventually diagnosed with new neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases.

The scientific director of the study, Dr. Álvaro Pascual-Leone, in his final report emphasized the importance of a healthy lifestyle. The results of the study show that it is a decisive factor in maintaining good brain health. This is because low physical activity affects sleep.

In addition, Dr. Gabriele Cattaneo, one of the authors of the study, points out that women who don’t sleep well are at higher risk for depression. The study also found a link between poor sleep quality and the presence of other diseases, such as hepatitis and hypertension.

Good sleep quality – a decisive factor

Let’s be clear that the BBHI’s research isn’t the first to talk about the relationship between sleep quality and the incidence of brain disease. In April 2019, the experts gathered at the XXVII National Congress of the Spanish Association of Neurosciences stated something similar.

During that event, the specialists discussed and debated the quality of resting and brain diseases. They indicated in their conclusions that there is a lot of new evidence.

That is, it could be a bidirectional relationship between sleep disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Among these pathologies, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are the most common.

In addition, they confirmed that in many cases sleep problems occur years before the first symptoms of dementia. People should therefore treat this factor as a warning sign. In turn, people with brain disorders deteriorate faster if they also have a sleep disorder.

At least this is the case, according to Dr. Sandra Giménez Badia, a clinical neurophysiologist at the Hospital de la Santa Creu y Sant Pau in Barcelona. She provided terrible information saying that up to 70% of people with dementia also have sleeping problems.

Sleep and Alzheimer’s disease

Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s have a lot to do with sleep disorders. The Pasqual Maragall Foundation, which specializes in Alzheimer’s research, has published a study in the journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.

It indicates that after analyzing 1,638 people, researchers concluded that those with sleep disorders showed lower volume in the brain regions of the precuneus or posterior cingulate cortex.

Those areas of the brain participate in processes such as memory and intellectual performance. That is also where the first signs of deterioration appear, especially in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition, they also found changes in the white matter of the brain. There were also stronger effects of insomnia in carriers of the genetic variant APOE-ε4.

In other words, this means that there is a link between insomnia and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Although the details are not yet known, the connection is still being studied.

Someone with poor sleep quality is also more prone to various health problems. So don’t take insomnia, interrupted sleep and all forms of insufficient rest lightly. This is because all these conditions require a professional consultation for detailed monitoring.