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Alzheimer's Disease Possibly Linked To Sleep Deprivation
sonnejw0 writes "NewScientist is reporting a link between sleep deprivation and Alzheimer's Disease via an increased amyloid-beta plaque load thought responsible for a large part of the symptoms of the disease, in mice. Medication to abrogate insomnia reduced the plaque load. Also discussed is a recently discovered sleep cycle of amyloid-beta deposition in the brain, in which levels decrease while asleep. 'Holtzman also tried sending the mice to sleep with a drug that is being trialled for insomnia, called Almorexant. This reduced the amount of plaque-forming protein. He suggests that sleeping for longer could limit the formation of plaques, and perhaps block it altogether.'"
"You can sleep when you're demented"
Ronald Reagan?
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Could delaying the inevitable onset of Alzheimer's be the biological function of sleep? Last I heard, the purpose of sleep wasn't entirely clear, and there were anecdotal reports of people basically eliminating it with drugs, sometimes with little ill-effect. I've long been of the opinion that if wakefullness promoting agents don't have short-term effects, there must be a longer-term negative impact, because if there weren't, the body would synthesise something similar, at least in people who are sufficiently well-fed not to mind the extra energy usage. Sleeping is basically a good chance to get eaten.
It's going to be a long time before we find out if regular modafinil users get early Alzheimer's.
P.S. It's been over an hour, and it still isn't possible to reply to this article. I'll post this when Slashdot works. I predict about 30 people claiming First Post.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
Alan MacDonald, M.D., is a pathologist affiliated with St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, New York. His current research is concentrated on developing what he refers to as a new biology for Lyme disease, including the use of special DNA probes to detect Borrelia DNA in spinal fluid and in tissue sections from Alzheimer autopsy tissues.
Through his research, and with the help of other leading researchers in the field of molecular and cellular biology, Dr. MacDonald is pioneering a broader understanding about the behavior of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. He has appeared as an invited lecturer at Lyme symposia, including the ILADS National Scientific Meetings and Columbia University/Lyme Disease Association conferences in Philadelphia, PA, where he presents the findings from his explorations into the connection between Borrelia spirochetal infection and Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Alan MacDonald: "Using the syphilis model, I began to study some autopsied brains, and found that I was able to identify spirochetes in autopsied brain tissue in the hippocampus, which is one of the areas that Alzheimer's disease tends to target in every patient. I was able to grow spirochetes from autopsied Alzheimer's brain tissue, and stain the spirochetes with special monochromal antibodies, through the techniques I learned and developed through the study of stillborn babies with Lyme disease. And those two positive results made me think even more strongly that some Alzheimer's might be like syphilis, a late manifestation of the bacterial infection in the brain, not to say that all Alzheimer's disease is related to Lyme disease, but some."
Not enough is known about Lyme Disease and its relation to Alzheimer's, ALS, MS, Fybromyalgia, etc. But, you can be sure Dr. MacDonald will be at the forefront.
Why don't we all just start taking Holtzman?
...trying to think of a clever comment, but now I forgot it!
Could this plaque, and its base cause of sleep deprivation also be the cause of some mental illnesses? I have heard that Alzheimer's Disease resembles both Schizophrenia and Bipolar. Maybe this might have implications for those tragic diseases.
I went 2-3 days w/out sleep in college, now(15 years later) I can hardly make it through the day without a nap.
7 hours a night is my minimum or I am definitely off my A Game that day. Some nights I need 10.
What happened to needing less sleep as we get older?
Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
...I am SO screwed. I think.
"I'd just like to emphasise that taking a million years isn't a metaphor here..." -Rich Bradshaw
I have to say, I like reading this kind of story, but they are so far beyond my area of expertise that I can't ever say anything except "wow, that's interesting."
I guess I can try for the fake-pretending-I-understand, "an increased amyloid-beta plaque load?? Why of course! The meta-prozoids all make sense now!!" OR vaguely humorous, "Why plaque? That only grows on teeth!!!"
Anyway, just saying that even though I don't always comment on these stories, that doesn't mean I don't find them interesting. This one is interesting to me.
Qxe4
to save some money.
and because when unhealthy workers die or get sick, they can just fire them and hire new ones.
so your boss is guilty for your dementia, now that's fucked up (lol)
This is really really bad news for those of us who live to write code.
Now I'm going to have to quit writing code and apply for janitorial work.
Alzheimer's suffers have amyloid-beta plaque deposits in their brains. Usually. Not always.
There are people who have amyloid-beta deposits in the brains. Some of them have dementia, including Alzheimer's. Not all.
Amyloid-beta plaque can be cleared from the brain by immunization. The dementia occurs anyway.: ...
AB42 Immunisation Clears Brain Plaques, Does Not Prevent Dementia
http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/225f1e.htm
Thus, this article should read "Amyloid-Beta Plaque Desposition and Clearing Possibly Associated With Sleep", and any implied link to Alzheimer's saved until the discussion section at the end.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
A while back they said that caffeine could prevent or slow the disease. Since then I've been drinking 12 cups of coffee a day and sleep on average 30 minutes a night! And now this? Bastards!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The main purpose of sleep is to sort your memories and mental connections you make while conscious. As you get older, it makes sense that this becomes more difficult, because there is a lot more data to deal with. So the benefits of sleep actually increase, but for some reason it seems that older people sleep less than younger people. Sleeping is like defragging your hard drive, if you don't do it often your data becomes very fragmented. I wrote a blog entry on this a while back, and just a few months ago I was talking to someone about Alzheimers and that I thought there might be a connection. http://blog.searchles.com/2008/03/why-we-sleep.html (I am no scientist, this was just my take as an information expert)
If that were even remotely true statistically, our society would have already been overburdened by doddering night workers whom keep our society going while the rest sleep.
Complete HOOEY!
Did anyone else think it odd that this had nothing to do with Dune? This wasn't the Holtzman Effect I was looking for.
Ascii artist &
And according to some other studies TOO MUCH sleep may be implicated in Parkinsons....
http://www.sleepdex.org/s25.htm
So what is too little and what is too much... and how much overlap is there...
Sorry for AC, but can't remember my account login. For lack of sleep you know.
A couple of the prevailing theories of sleep are both related to the brain.
1. Neurons are special cells that are usually not replaced. Unlike just about every other cell in the body.
This creates a special maintenance task for the body. It's difficult to repair the neuron while it's in use, and
could be dangerous for information processing. Thus, it has to effectively shut down the interaction with the
the environment to do it.
2. Neuronal pruning is the other major task proposed. Meaning, information that is not salient gets erased.
There are probably numerous bodily functions that have attached themselves to the function of sleep. But,
I think if it sacrifices consciousness to do it, the primary reason for sleep must be the brain.
..but I'm too tired, and I forgot what I was going to say.
Sorry, nothing to see here - I have no time to comment, I have to go to bed...
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Wonder how this will influence the CIA's stance that sleep deprivation for long periods is an acceptable form of torture.
Which, by the way, is REALLY what the CIA is saying. Not that they don't torture - we all know they do - this is just an example of "acceptable" torture. But now that it can cause long-term illness ... we'll see if they revise that position.
Oh, and CIA? It's NOT OKAY TO TORTURE. For any reason. Even if you think its ultimately harmless. Because guess what - you DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING. And you are not in a position to judge what is and isn't harmless, given the moral looseness your organization must develop to do the things you do day in and day out.
But I forgot what it was.
Ian Ameline
Enjoy your dementia, overachievers!
[b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
Great. Well, I guess I better head home early to bed tonight.
It is NO surprise that a study finds Alzheimer's related to lack of sleep. I'm sure almost any study done for nearly any negative ailment could be linked to sleep deprivation in the exact, same way.
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
I wonder what the implications of this are for polyphasic sleep and it's proponents. I've always thought the Uberman schedule (4 hours blocks of time with 30 minute naps) was an interesting idea, though I've never lived a lifestyle that would make it possible.
... see! That's how you slashdot! That distorts the facts nicely and gets the attention. WTF? Why are you guys getting all accurate and boring in your headlines?
[signature]
As always, we have to consider whether people whose bodies naturally guide them to nine hours or more of sleep per night have an underlying physiology that makes them more likely to develop Parkinson's. For example's sake, when my schedule is uninterrupted and I can sleep for as long or short as I want, that is, go to sleep when tired and wake up naturally, I average about eight and a half to nine hours. Alarm clocks and the modern world keep me sleeping about seven hours a night. Am I mitigating the potentially harmful effects of sleeping so much by keeping my body on an unnatural rhythm, or are the underlying risk factors still present? Biology is not my forte. The stuff about night shift work and hormones is interesting. Higher levels of melatonin and oestradiol = increased risk. The article doesn't mention, however, if night shift workers take night shifts because they're naturally "night owls" (meaning they would have some biological factors regulating their risk of developing the disease) or if their schedule is out of their hands (that is, we can impose external schedules on sleep biology to manage risk factors). There are all sorts of risk factors that can be managed with proper diet/exercise/etc, I guess it's not too much of a stretch to assume that sleep management would have similar benefits.
It does have the advantages that more of them fit in the bedroom and people don't look at you funny.
Squirrel!
That's why it's always the college students the old people are the most radical (left wing or right wing).
It seems that both groups don't get much sleep...
I was disappointed with all the jokers saying they forgot what they were going to post but then I realized they could all actually be from the same person...
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
Really interesting as I don't sleep too much, I think. I can't really remember.
6.8SPC TR of 550, l xwind at 6, drift rt at 26" drops 77". AT has 503 ft-lbs at 1403 fps. FT 0.86
They're mice that have symptoms very similar to Alzheimer's and we do use them in studies, but inferring anything when we only have a t-sample of 10 male humans to compare it to, is not very reasonable.
It does suggest a more in depth study, but to get any statistical power you would need probably 300 human controls and 300 AD cases to compare, age and gender matched. To allow for dropouts down to a final size of 254 each.
Now, this should not mean it's incorrect - we've always known that the risk factors for Alzheimer's include lack of sleep, after diet and exercise.
Take home message, try to get a reasonable amount of sleep, eat a varied diet low in red meat, and get mild to moderate exercise.
And if your doctor wants you to have low dose Aspirin, that's a good idea.
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Dementia is not the same as Alzheimer's. Many more people have dementia than have Alzheimer's. We even categorize people with Parkinson's by those with Dementia (PDD) and those without Dementia (PD), for example.
FTD (frontal temporal dementia) is different as well.
My faves are the people who see little green men, or have irrational beliefs. You see a lot of those, actually.
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Seeing how the birth of my son caused me 4 YEARS of extreme sleep deprivation, then I guess I am ... wait.. what was I saying?
Okay, so let's give credit - this is a legitimate researcher doing interesting (if highly preliminary) work. From his bio, accessible from TFA, you find that:
Which suggests that the increase in CSF beta protein seen in sleep deprivation might actually be a harbinger of protection from Alzheimer Disease (AD). Or not, and it's not possible to know right now. Your speculation is just as valid as mine.
The problem is that we don't know if the protein causes the neuronal damage in AD or is a side effect of the damage, like a clot or a scar. Dr. Holzman's research bio makes that clear, and it also makes it clear that the damage, whatever it is, starts decades before the protein levels become abnormal. So if you want to avoid sleep deprivation, that's cool, and the fact that most people reading this site are hopelessly sleep deprived most of the time is probably cool too. Either way, our other lifestyle issues will likely collect us long before our brains start to rot.
On the plus side, we now know how to make mice demented. It's not much, but it's something.
Especially if you didn't feed it before going to bed.
Kids work as well, but... well... that requires women, cats are easier.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Does this lead to forgetful terrorists?
While studying sleep and the effects that it can have on memory in my classes and research studies, it has been known that sleep does affect memory, but not dramatically. As a college student, the less sleep you get, the less information you retain, which in turn slows down the activity of your brain. As you get older, many functions of your body begins to slow down anyway and without increased functioning of the brain, your memory begins to deteriorate. Many older people do not do activities that promote continuous brain functioning and without doing so, it's apparent that without activity, you lose memory, but many older people get much more sleep than they ever get. Sleep plays a major role in developing Alzheimer's Disease, but other factors must be stated also.
Don't something like 47% of Americans believe in aliens visiting Earth in UFOs? And an even higher percentage believe in angels? That's quite a lot.
I knew it! there's one good thing about sleeping too much! *I want to believe the article meant more than avg. hours of sleep per day* lol. my mother used to say 'sleeping too much makes you lazy' but now I can argue against her with this reason. but i must say, these days i can wake up without any alarms in the morning.......could this possibly mean that i'm getting old?
does anyone know the correlation of results of research done on mice to results later found in humans? i've heard it's very low and certainly many drugs that were tested on mice and deemed safe were taken off the market due to dangers in humans.
As I recall, a majority believe in Angels and a minority believe in Saxons.
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