Lack of Sleep may affect Alzheimer’s
There's growing evidence that a lack of sleep can leave the brain vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease. Jeffrey Iliff, a brain scientist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland says “The brain appears to clear out toxins linked to Alzheimer's during sleep.” They have found that “among research animals that don't get enough solid shut-eye, those toxins can build up and damage the brain.”
Sleep disorders are very common among people with Alzheimer's disease. As reported by npr.org*
·      In 2009, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis showed that the sticky amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's develop more quickly in the brains of sleep-deprived mice.
·      In 2013, Iliff was a member of a team that discovered how a lack of sleep could be speeding the development of those Alzheimer's plaques. ‘A remarkable cleansing process takes place in the brain during deep sleep, at least in animals.’ Iliff says ‘the fluid that's normally on the outside of the brain, actually begins to recirculate back into and through the brain along the outsides of blood vessels.’ This process allows the brain to clear out toxins, including the toxins that form Alzheimer's plaques.
·       To know for sure, though, researchers will have to study this cleansing process in people.  Jeffrey Iliff will work with Bill Rooney, director of the university's Advanced Imaging Research Center, to enroll people in a similar study in 2016.
* http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/01/04/460620606/lack-of-deep-sleep-may-set-the-stage-for-alzheimers?WT.mc_id=enews2016_01_06&utm_source=enews-aff-21&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews-2016-01-06