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.