Study: Common Sleep Habits Linked to Brain Aging ^{CEFR B1}

A study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia found links between several common sleep habits and signs of brain aging. The researchers pooled existing brain MRI scans and questionnaire data from more than 23,000 middle-aged and older adults and worked with teams at the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California.

Participants answered a baseline questionnaire from 2006 to 2010 about five sleep behaviors: sleep duration, daytime napping, sleeplessness, unintentional daytime dozing and snoring. Roughly nine years later the same people had MRI scans that measured white matter lesion volumes, areas of brain damage that tend to grow with age and relate to higher dementia risk.

Initially all five behaviors were associated with larger lesion volumes. After adjusting for vascular health and lifestyle factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and physical inactivity, three behaviors remained clearly linked: sleeping outside the seven-to-nine-hour range, frequent daytime napping and sleeplessness. Snoring and unintentional dozing lost their association after these adjustments. The authors note that sleep is changeable and that improving sleep quality may help reduce brain aging and possibly lower dementia risk.