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Sleeping Too Little in Middle-Age May Raise Dementia Risk, Study Finds
- Enginerrrd 6y ago“It would be really unlikely that almost three decades earlier, this sleep was a symptom of dementia, so it’s a great study in providing strong evidence that sleep is really a risk factor,” This seems like a huge leap to take as a given to me. Brains, particularly when we're talking about dementia, are really good at compensating for a really long time. So while this wouldn't surprise me, I really have to wonder about causation. Many middle-aged adults I know have trouble sleeping. It's not a choice. That may be a symptom of an ailing brain rather than a cause.
- omgwtfbyobbq 6y agoOr a characteristic of some other underlying condition that also increases the chances of being diagnosed with dementia later in life. Dementia is a very general diagnosis and is fairly widely applied. Someone could have certain characteristics throughout their entire life, and be labelled as having dementia after those characteristics become more frequent, severe, and impairing in old age. In that case dementia can be an accurate diagnosis without informing someone about the specifics of the dementia, and the specifics can be very important.
- benrapscallion 6y agoThis is indeed the case for REM behavior disorder, a dream-enactment disorder that precedes Parkinson’s by 10-15 years.
- benrapscallion 6y agoTrouble sleeping doesn’t necessarily equate to less hours of sleep. Sleep has two aspects: quantity and quality. The study is specifically focused on shorter duration of sleep.
- rednerrus 6y agoIt doesn't help that middle aged men consume 260 mg of caffeine and 71 grams of sugar a day, on average, and fewer than 1 in 4 of them exercise. We're inundating our bodies with drugs and asking "Why is this happening?"