Feeling sleepy during daytime related to Alzheimer’s: Study

GB news24 desk//

According to a new study, feeling drowsy during daytime can be symptomatic of Alzheimer’s Disease. Published in Sleep and quoted in a report in New York Times, the study states that feeing sleepy during daytime can lead to accumulation of the plaques in the brain.

Having disturbed sleep, the study informs, “has emerged as a candidate risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease”. In order to arrive at the result, daytime sleep habits of 124 mentally sound men and women with the average age of 60 were documented. Researchers, after an average of 15 years later, carried out PET and MRI scans in order to find out the presence of beta-amyloid, the protein that cluster together to form plaques.

It was deferred that those who complained of feeling drowsy during the daytime when compared to those who don’t, have a higher risk of having plaques. However, those who nap frequently do not run any such risk.

Opining on this, lead author Adam P Spira said, “If you’re falling asleep when you’d rather be awake, that’s something that needs to be investigated.” “It could be just insufficient sleep, or sleep disordered breathing, or other conditions or medications that are leading to it,” said Spira, who is also an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The study in no way sheds light on the cause and effect of the condition. However, as Dr Spira says, “it provides more evidence for the link between disturbed sleep and the development of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.”