You slumber, you win: Taking a regular nap of just five minutes can improve your mental agility and help ward off dementia, the study finds
- Researchers studied the sleep patterns of more than 2,200 Chinese elderly people
- Each participant also received a standardized screening test for dementia
- Diapers scored better in location awareness, memory and verbal fluency
- However, the team warned that the cause was not identified in the study.
Regular naps – even just five minutes a day – can improve your mental agility and help ward off dementia, a study reported.
Researchers from China studied the sleep patterns of 2,214 healthy adults 60 years and older who lived in several major cities – including Beijing, Shanghai and Xian.
Of the participants, 1534 reported that they took a regular afternoon nap of between five minutes and two hours, while the remaining 680 individuals did not.
Each of the subjects also took part in a dementia screening test – with results showing ‘significant’ differences between sleep and not the groups.
Sleeping in the afternoon was accompanied by better location awareness, verbal fluency, and working memory in older adults.
As people get older, their sleep patterns change – and sleep becomes more common.
Previous research could not agree on whether sleep can help fight dementia, and whether it is in fact a symptom of it.
In the developed world, about 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 have dementia – with numbers increasing as global life expectancy rises.
Regular naps – even just five minutes a day – can improve your mental agility and help ward off dementia, a study reported (stock image)
“In addition to reducing drowsiness, afternoon naps offer a variety of benefits,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
It explained, including ‘memory consolidation, preparation for subsequent learning, improvement in executive functioning and a boost to emotional stability – but these effects were not observed in all cases.’
However, the team warned that the study could not establish a causal link between drowsiness and mental agility – and further noted that the study did not take into account the length or timing of naps, which may be important.
However, the team found that those who took regular naps had higher levels of fat, called triglyceride, in their blood, meaning an afternoon nap was linked to associated risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the study said.
The researchers also put forward some possible explanations for the findings – including the theory that sleep regulates the body’s immune response and that an emerging response to inflammation may be sleep.
“People with higher levels of inflammation also sneak more often,” the researchers write in their paper.
Researchers from China found that sleeping in the afternoon was accompanied by better location awareness, oral fluency and working memory in older adults (stock image)
“Scientists continue to unravel the link between sleep and dementia,” said Sara Imarisio, Alzheimer Research UK.
“Unusual sleep patterns are common for people with dementia, but research suggests that sleep changes can occur clearly before symptoms such as memory loss begin to show.”
The authors could not determine whether a daytime nap directly affected memory and thinking, and the research only shows a link between the two. ‘
“While other studies have also shown a link between changes in sleep quality, a larger investigation into a number of sleep-related factors is needed, not just sleep,” said Dr. Imarisio added.
According to her, this would “paint a clearer picture of the connection between dementia and sleep during the day.”
The full findings of the study were published in the journal General Psychiatry.
WHAT IS DEMENS? THE KILLER DISEASE THAT SUFFERERS OF THEIR MEMORIES
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of neurological disorders.
A GENERAL ACCESS
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a series of progressive neurological disorders (affecting the brain) that affect memory, thinking and behavior.
There are many different types of dementia, of which the disease is the most common.
Some people have a combination of types of dementia.
Regardless of what type is diagnosed, each person will experience their dementia in their own unique way.
Dementia is a global source of concern, but it is mostly seen in affluent countries, where people are likely to grow very old.
HOW MUCH PEOPLE AFFECT?
The Alzheimer’s Association reports that today there are more than 850,000 people with dementia living in the UK, of which more than 500,000 have Alzheimer’s.
It is estimated that the number of people living with dementia in the UK by 2025 will rise to more than 1 million.
In the US, it is estimated that there are 5.5 million Alzheimer’s sufferers. A similar percentage increase is expected in the coming years.
As a person’s age increases, so does the risk of developing dementia.
The diagnosis rate is improving, but many people with dementia have probably not been diagnosed yet.
IS THERE A MEDICINE?
Currently, there is no cure for dementia.
But new drugs can slow progress, and the sooner they are noticed, the more effective the treatment.
Source: Alzheimer’s Association