Sleep seems to play a crucial role in the prevention of many diseases. Dysfunctions of the immune system can be helped by deep slumber, and regular illnesses such as the common cold can be fought off much quicker with a nap.

Deeper snoozing can also help prevent the development of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, which have both been linked to the effects of lack of sleep. (1, 3)

Professor Matthew Walker from the University of California, is investigating how sleep could help fight the devastating disease known as Alzheimer’s. His team have been researching for six years, with 32 individuals in their 70’s. (4)

Can We Cure Alzheimer’s?

Inside that head of yours dwells a mysterious glob of goodness-knows-what, which we call your brain. This hard-working mass of squiggles is home to almost all that you consider to be ‘yourself.’

Intellect, movement, feelings, identity, taste and hearing, are all purposes our brain masters for us, through a network of messages. We can generally listen to our brain orders very effectively.

In an Alzheimer’s brain a protein starts to build up, blocking these electrical signals, and disrupting the flow of information. Dementia is the accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques within brain tissue, characterizing the development of memory impairment.

 A lack of deep sleep, and the disturbance of the process of ‘cleansing’ the brain of these plaque proteins, may accelerate this degeneration. (1)

The brain can tolerate a certain level of plaque (amyloid) for many years, and it seems it’s as though the amyloid needs something else to go on and produce destruction of brain cells. To investigate whether this ‘something else’ may simply be lack of decent sleep, further studies are being carried out, to determine whether during sleep, why the brain appears to wash away these waste products.

In the war against the disease, Dr. Eric Reiman, a researcher in one of the collaboration studies, and executive director of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, has produced a 2020 report after some clinical trials, in which they collaborated with Colombian scientists and patients.

In Colombia they wish to treat the disease in its earlier stages. They are offering clinical trials to people in high risk groups, where dementia has run in the family. They have been trying to find ways to artificially induce sleep. 

To do this the drugs they have tried via injection, have had negative side-effects, including swelling on the brain. Heading the ongoing trials, Dr. Francisco Loperamid, University of Antioquia, Columbia, is giving some patients placebos. Others given the real drug are reporting a return to easier memory. (2, 5)

Well Worth Knowing About Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s accounts for 60-80% of dementia cases, and is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. 30 million people worldwide are sufferers. (2, 3)

Alzheimer’s worsens as a chronic condition that gradually intensifies. Memory loss is mild in early stages, but with late-stage Alzheimer’s, people lose the ability to continue conversations, or adapt to different surroundings. An Alzheimer’s person lives on average four to eight years after diagnosis, but may live as long as 20 years.

What is little known, is that Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging. Although the greatest known risk factor is increasing age, and the majority of people with Alzheimer’s are 65 and older, Alzheimer’s is not just a disease of old age.

Approximately 200,000 Americans under the age of 65  now have younger-onset Alzheimer’s. (3)

Both the science teams in this article wish to focus on sleep deprivation being not just a symptom, but more an underlying cause. (2, 4, 5)