Having difficulties sleeping lately? Take heed. A new study published in the Neurology journal says faster decline rates in brain volume may be connected to difficulties in sleeping.
To scrutinize the link between brain volume and sleep difficulties, the researchers studied 147 adults with 20 and 84 years of age. By sleep difficulties, it means problems staying asleep or falling asleep in the evening.
Each of the participants went through two magnetic resonance imaging brain scans, with a standard of 3.5 years apart, prior to accomplishing a questionnaire regarding their sleeping habits.
The results showed that 35 percent of respondents met the benchmarks for poor quality of sleep, with a standard score of 8.5 over 21 points on given assessment. Said assessment examined the sleep duration of people, the length of time it took them to get their sleep at night, and sleeping pills use, among other factors.
True enough, the results further indicated that sleep difficulties were associated with a faster brain volume decline in extensive regions of the brain, which include parietal, temporal and frontal areas.
Study says the findings were in fact more prominent in people above 60 years of age.
One author of the study, Claire E. Sexton of the University of Oxford in the U.K., clarified that it has not been known completely yet if poor quality of sleep is either a consequence or a cause of brain structural changes.
“Poor sleep quality may be a cause or a consequence of brain atrophy, and future studies examining the effect of interventions that improve sleep quality on rates of atrophy may hold key insights into the direction of this relationship,” says the study.
Sexton says sleep problems have effective treatments, which is why future research has to test whether or not enhancing the quality of sleep of people could slow down the degree of brain volume decline.
“If that is the case, improving people's sleep habits could be an important way to improve brain health,” she says in a statement.
Said study also says that sleep is “the brain’s housekeeper” that repairs and restores the condition of the brain.
The study, titled Poor sleep quality is associated with increased cortical atrophy in community-dwelling adults, was published in the online issue of the journal of American Academy of Neurology on Sept. 3.
It received support from the University of Oslo, European Research Council, Norwegian Research Council, Wellcome Trust, U.K. National Institute for Health Research, and Research Council of Norway.
