BETHESDA, MARYLAND — If you think your sleepless nights are harmless, a new study begs to disagree.
The study, published in PNAS, reports that Alzheimer's disease has been associated with a build-up of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain, which manifests as plaques.
Since sleeping is believed to flush amyloids from the brain, lack of sleep has been correlated with a higher risk of the neurodegenerative disease.
In a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, amyloid levels in the brains of 20 healthy subjects were measured after a full night's sleep.
When the subjects were deprived of sleep for more than 24 hours, scans revealed that the levels of beta-amyloid had increased significantly.
While the immediate effects of sleep loss are clear, the study failed to look at the implications over a long period of time.
But even without establishing causation between lack of sleep and dementia, it's clear sleep is crucial to a proper functioning brain.
