Everyone is worried about skin aging, avoids excessive sun exposure and applies expensive creams to prevent early ageing. But what about brain aging? When the brain ages faster than normal, cognitive decline also begins. And do you know the culprit behind this? your sleep. Consider sleep as an essential ‘brain care’ activity that rejuvenates and restores your brain health. Inability to sleep is a common condition that most sleep-deprived or self-proclaimed ‘night owls’ casually shrug off with a cup of coffee in the morning. But it seems there’s more to sleep problems than meets the eye.
A study by the American Academy of Neurology published in the journal Neurology has identified sleep disturbances in middle-aged adults, such as poor sleep quality or inability to fall asleep, as key warning signs of early brain aging. The study detailed that sleep problems could speed up brain aging by up to 3 years. Let’s see what else the study revealed.
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More information about research
In this study that lasted for decades, the aging of the participants was tracked. Initially, 589 people over the age of 40 were asked to complete a questionnaire describing their sleep problems. A second set of questionnaire surveys was provided after 5 years. Finally, brain scans were taken 15 years after the first survey to investigate how their brains aged and whether this was linked to their sleep patterns. The researchers assessed their brain age, a metric that measures the rate of brain shrinkage, which typically increases with age.
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years of brain aging
Researchers found a relationship between the number of years of aging and the number of sleep problems. They discovered that people who had two to three sleep problems showed signs of brain aging faster, and their brains looked about 1.6 years older than those with only one sleep problem. Is. Similarly, the brains of individuals with three or more sleep problems appeared to age faster by 2.6 years.
Researchers recommended developing healthy sleep patterns for good brain health. He suggested following a strict, consistent sleep schedule, avoiding coffee and alcohol before bed, getting plenty of exercise, and resorting to relaxation techniques if you have difficulty falling asleep.
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“Our findings highlight the importance of addressing sleep problems early in life to maintain brain health, including consistent sleep,” said Dr. Christine Yaffe, a researcher at the University of California San Francisco and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. ” Exercising, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and using relaxation techniques before going to bed. Future research should focus on finding new ways to improve sleep quality and examining the long-term effects of sleep on brain health in young people.
Dr. Clemens Cavallis, a researcher at the University of California San Francisco and co-author of the study, said, “Our study, which used brain scans to determine the brain age of participants, suggests that poor sleep occurs around the age of three. “It’s tied to years of extra time.” The brain becomes old only in middle age.”
