Euronews – Chronic insomnia could be bad for more than just your sleep schedule – it could speed up brain ageing, new research has found.
People with chronic insomnia, or those who have trouble sleeping at least three nights per week for three months or more, are 40 per cent more likely to develop dementia or mild cognitive problems than people who sleep normally, according to the study published in the journal Neurology.
That translates to an additional 3.5 years of brain ageing, the study said.
The findings “add to a growing body of evidence that sleep isn’t just about rest – it’s also about brain resilience,” Dr Diego Z. Carvalho, one of the study’s authors and a neurologist at the US-based Mayo Clinic, said in a statement.
Carvalho’s team tracked 2,750 older Americans who were cognitively healthy over an average of nearly six years. The participants – 16 per cent of whom were diagnosed with insomnia – underwent regular memory and thinking tests, and some had brain scans.
Overall, 14 per cent of people with insomnia developed dementia or mild cognitive impairment, compared with 10 per cent of those without insomnia. People with chronic insomnia also saw sharper declines on thinking tests over the years.
“We saw faster decline in thinking skills and changes in the brain that suggest chronic insomnia could be an early warning sign or even a contributor to future cognitive problems,” Carvalho said …
