Points well taken. While my comment falls short of claiming that dementia is linked to lack of sleep, I was primed by the following research in the media recen

Points well taken. While my comment falls short of claiming that dementia is linked to lack of sleep, I was primed by the following research in the media recently: "Sleep duration and all-cause mortality": http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20469800 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20469800 "Disturbances to the sleep-wake cycle predict future diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease. ": http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=fd313178-35c6-4098-9231-19b31db40132&cKey=6c052583-7bb1-46d4-82db-cc98608e4e30&mKey={70007181-01C9-4DE9-A0A2-EEBFA14CD9F1} http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=f... The first, a survey, seems to show that too little sleep increases all-cause mortality (i.e. that "aging" you mention), the second suggests that sleep disturbances (unknown, admittedly how that relates to sleep duration) may be linked (cause or effect unknown) with Alzheimer's.