Purdue Researchers Examining Link Between Sleep and Alzheimer’s

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.–Researchers at Purdue University are looking at the connection between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease.

“Ultimately, we know there is an early onset type that influences people as long as young as 30, but it can affect people from the 40s through the 60s age group. Then we have a later onset group that tends to have the first signs happening at 65 and up. It is the most common type of dementia affecting more than 6 million Americans,” said A.J Schwichtenberg, associate professor of Human Development and Family Science and director of Purdue University’s Sleep and Developmental Studies Laboratory.

Schwictenberg says both her and her colleagues are studying how different sleep stages affect the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which helps remove waste in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer’s.

“The movement of CSF is linked to heart rate and respiration. For this reason, we are asking people to come to our MRI facility at Purdue and fall asleep in the machine so we can look at their breath, heart rate, and their sleep stages in their brain to see how it relates to CSF movement,” said Schwictenberg.

You might wonder what causes “waste” to develop in the brain.

“Throughout the course of the day, we go along having thoughts and excitation in the brain. That excitation in the brain creates metabolic waste that has to be cleared out,” said Schwictenberg.

She emphasized that sleep helps clear that out.

The most common early symptom of Alzheimer’s is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation (including easily getting lost), mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s at this point.