Strong Brain Blog

Disturbed sleep is widely regarded as one of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. So there is an obvious question: Are any forms of disturbed sleep occurring before the onset of Alzheimer’s predictive of the later onset of the disease? Four studies set out to examine the relationship between different aspects of sleep disturbance and the later onset of Alzheimer’s. All of the studies showed some correlation between the studied aspect of sleep disturbance and the latter occurrence of Alzheimer’s.

Below, we provide links to a media article on each of the studies, together with a link to the main research article (or an abstract):

A Change in Sleep Habits from Normal to Long: Harbinger of Dementia?
Research:
Prolonged sleep duration as a marker of early neurodegeneration predicting incident dementia.

Can poor sleep lead to Alzheimer’s?
Research:
Sleep architecture and the risk of incident dementia in the community

Poor Sleep Tied to Increased Alzheimer’s Risk
Research:
Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults

Poor quality sleep could increase Alzheimer’s risk, research suggests
Research:
Slow wave sleep disruption increases cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-β levels

All of the links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Risk Factors.

Can breathing lead to Alzheimer’s? Three studies of the link between air pollution and dementia suggest that it could. Exceedingly small polluting particles — 200 times smaller than the width of a human hair — of ammonium, black carbon, nitrate, sulfate, and heavy metal are known to cause or exacerbate asthma, lung cancer, heart disease — and now — dementia, including Alzheimer’s.

Here is a link to a Science Magazine article discussing two of the studies and the general broad problem:
THE POLLUTED BRAIN: Evidence builds that dirty air causes Alzheimer’s, dementia

Below are links to groups of media articles discussing each study, each together with a link to the research article.

Can Air Pollution Heighten Alzheimer’s Risk?
Air pollution may lead to dementia in older women
Research article:
Particulate air pollutants, APOE alleles and their contributions to cognitive impairment in older women and to amyloidogenesis in experimental models

Living near heavy traffic increases risk of dementia, say scientists
Living close to a major roadway could increase dementia risk, study says
Research article:
Living near major roads and the incidence of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis: a population-based cohort study

Culprit hidden in plain sight in Alzheimer disease development
Research article:
Markers associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are present in Mexico City children chronically exposed to concentrations of fine particulate matter PM2.5 above the current EPA USA standards

All of the links can be found in Alzheimer’s > Risk Factors.