Sleep Helps Your Brain Repair Itself

At one time or another, everybody has bouts of sleeplessness. House noises, screaming babies, caffeine, or a bed partner who snores, often make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Eventually, you learn to limit the amount of coffee you drink, the screaming babies grow up, and the snoring bed partner, well ... still snores. Other causes of chronic sleeplessness are sleep apnea, acid reflux, jet lag, swing-shift employment, and ongoing stress that causes sleeplessness. 

Discoveries made by Oregon Health and Science University researchers show that sleep deprivation increases the risk of Dementia later in life and may quicken its progression for those who already have the disease.1 Their data show that insufficient sleep increases the production of beta-amyloid proteins that compose the plaques associated with various kinds of Dementia.1

Taking a different approach, the University of California Berkeley Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab researchers have evidence demonstrating the importance of deep non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in preventing memory loss. 2 The deep non-REM sleep phase, among other functions, appears to prevent the buildup of beta-amyloid proteins. Their work shows there is a correlation between the accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins, sleep disorders, and Alzheimer disease. 2
Also, insufficient sleep is a risk factor associated with other health conditions that include obesity, heart disease, and diabetes - all of which increase the likelihood of Dementia later in life.

What to do??
First of all, remember that risk factors do not cause disease but increase the likelihood of having Dementia sometime in the future. Second, and most importantly, modifying behaviors and habits associated with dementia, such as smoking and obesity, can reduce risk.

Sufficient sleep depends on the age of the individual. For adults, seven to 10 hours of sleep per night is considered healthy. 3  However, for adults older than 65-years of age, six to eight hours of sleep per night is both normal and healthy. 3
Many older people, believing less than 8 hours of sleep per night, is abnormal, resort to using sleeping pills. Unfortunately, using medication to assure sleep both increases the risk for dementia and worsens Dementia for those who have the disease.

People acquire habits and behaviors that unknowingly make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. The National Sleep Foundation offers the following tips to get a good night’s sleep.3

⦁ Stick to a sleep schedule – even on the weekends.
⦁ Develop a relaxing routine to prepare your body for sleep. 
⦁ Use your bed only for sleep and sex. 
⦁ If you have trouble sleeping, avoid afternoon and early evening naps.
⦁ Exercise daily.
⦁ Make the room where you sleep comfortable and free from disturbing noise or other distractions. 
⦁ Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows. 
⦁ Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and heavy meals in the evening. 
⦁ Wind down - an hour before bed, choose a calming activity such as reading. 
⦁ If you can't sleep, go into another room and do something relaxing or immensely boring until you feel sleepy. 

Notes:
1. How a lack of sleep can increase YOUR risk of dementia: Lack of rest prevents the brain from clearing out toxins that trigger Alzheimer's', http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3387246/How-lack-sleep-increase-risk-dementia-Lack-rest-prevents-brain-clearing-toxins-trigger-Alzheimer-s.html (accessed May 17, 2016)
2. Lack of Sleep May Lead to Dementia: New Research Finds It Makes Brain Vulnerable, http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-06-02/lack-sleep-may-lead-dementia-new-research-finds-it-makes (accessed May 17, 2016)
3. Healthy Sleep Tips, https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-tools-tips/healthy-sleep-tips (accessed May 17, 2016)

Contributor: Janet Yagoda Shagam, Ph.D., is a freelance medical and science writer and the author of “An Unintended Journey: A Caregiver's Guide to Dementia.” Available through Amazon. 

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse or guarantee products, comments, suggestions, links, or other forms of content within blog posts provided to us with permission or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice. Please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org

Finding Ways to Reduce the Stress of Caregiving

Family caregivers often feel stressed, exhausted, anxious, sad, angry, and sometimes hostile. However, caring for a person who has Dementia does more than affect behavior.

According to psychiatrist Dr. Linda Mah and colleagues, unrelenting stress and anxiety compromises health as well as contributes to increased risk for depression and Dementia. Many of their findings are sobering. Their discovery that unrelenting anxiety and stress damages areas of the brain that regulate emotional responses, thinking, and memory, is particularly relevant. They conclude that some treatments relieving depression may aid in repairing the damage created by caregiving stresses.

But don't let Dr. Mah’s findings be another reason to cause worry in your already stress-filled life. Having risk factors does not mean you are predestined to develop Dementia. Risk factors do not cause the disease; risk factors increase the probability of (someday) having the disease.

There are many reasons why it is important for family caregivers to get relief from the months and years of doing more than their abilities, circumstances, and resources would normally withstand. 

Caregivers have several options available to them in order to reduce their stress. One of them is to look closely at their own behavior. Some family caregivers feel they are the only person who can give their loved-one the proper care. Usually, this is not true. Often family members and friends can step up as good substitute caregivers and will volunteer to help if the primary caregiver appears interested or receptive.

In addition to family and friends, community and faith-based organizations provide affordable respite care. Local nonprofit support groups, as well as the U.S. Administration on Aging, are examples of community resources. The Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Service are examples of faith-based, nonprofit organizations that, regardless of ethnicity or religion, can give the primary caregiver time away from his or her full-time care commitment.

Adult daycare is another possibility. Located in community senior centers, nursing homes, churches, synagogues, hospitals, and schools, adult daycare provides stimulation and companionship for seniors who need medical assistance and other kinds of supervision.  Usually open during business hours, adult daycare centers give the family caregiver time to go to work, to attend to personal business, or to relax while knowing their loved-one is safe.

Family caregivers use respite time in different ways. Some sleep, while others go shopping, spend time with friends, read, walk, or take time to participate in a favorite hobby or sport. Make an effort to set aside time for a daily 15- to 30-minute break for an enjoyable physical activity such as walking. Good times to grab these important moments are when your loved-one is asleep, is in the doctor’s office, or when a friend or relative pays a visit

Schedule longer respite breaks for the same time each week. Plan ahead so you will know how you will spend that precious time. That way, even on a difficult day you will always have something to look forward to doing. But whatever you decide, make respite a priority before feelings of exhaustion, isolation, and resentment take over.  

Janet Yagoda Shagam, PhD, is a freelance medical and science writer and the author of “An Unintended Journey: A Caregiver's Guide to Dementia.” Available through Amazon.  

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions, links, or other forms of content contained within blog posts that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society of America does not provide medical advice. Please consult your doctor.