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It’s no secret that for a well-rested body, good sleep is the ultimate requirement. As we lead extremely busy lifestyles, from living on-to-go to unstable shifts, sleep becomes a distant luxury. Recently, a study revealed the cognitive decline most individuals in their 30s and 40s experience due to sleep disturbances. The study also looked into whether coffee consumption was associated with low sleep quality and sleep disturbances among the older population.
According to researchers at the University of California San Francisco, disturbed sleep among young adults has increasingly doubled the odds of testing poorly on several cognitive measures in comparison to those who slept well. As reported by Yahoo!, study author Yue Leng says:
“Given that signs of Alzheimer’s disease start to accumulate in the brain several decades before symptoms begin, understanding the connection between sleep and cognition earlier in life is critical for understanding the role of sleep problems as a risk factor for the disease.”
In a report by News Medical, several studies have shown that 25% of adults above the age of 65 years do not get optimal sleep- neither in quality nor duration, thus impacting mental and physical health, including cognitive function and quality of life. One of the most common psychoactive substances in food is caffeine, and beverages such as tea and coffee are common sources of caffeine, which is why it is also essential to understand the impact of caffeine and its contribution to disrupted sleep in older adults.
Sleep Disturbances: About The Study
Published in the journal Neurology – the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the investigation involved 526 people at an average age 40 for a period of 11 years. At the beginning of the study, participants wore a wrist activity monitor that tracked their sleep restlessness and various other factors for three consecutive nights.
The participants of the study also maintained a sleep diary in which they assessed and logged their sleep quality, and 46% rated their sleep as poor. The researchers reported that from the 175 people with the highest disrupted sleep, 44 had poor cognitive performance a decade later, compared to 10 of the 176 people with the least disrupted sleep.
The report adds: “After adjusting for age, gender, race and education, people who had the most disrupted sleep had more than twice the odds of having poor cognitive performance.” (Source: Yahoo!)
Studies from 2021 have shared that people who frequently reported to experiencing difficulty falling asleep had a 49% increased risk of dementia. Those with fragmented slepp and who often woke in the night and had difficulty falling back asleep aslo showed a 39% increased risk of dementia.
Study author Dr. Yue Leng, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, says: “More research is needed to assess the link between sleep disturbances and cognition at different stages of life and to identify if critical life periods exist when sleep is more strongly associated with cognition.” He also adds that future studies have the potential to create new opportunities for the prevention of Alzheimer’s later in life. (Source: CNN Health)
Good Sleep: A Global Challenge
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that most adults need at least seven hours of sleep a night, depending on their age. However, one in three Americans do not get the required sleep hours.
Calling this a “public health problem,” the CDC says that: “even one night of short sleep can affect you the next day. Not only are you more likely to feel sleepy, you’re more likely to be in a bad mood, be less productive at work and be involved in a motor vehicle crash.”
