The more the disease progresses, the less elderly people sleep at night and rest during the day. The study was conducted on a group of 1401 people. The average age of the participants in the experiment was 81 years. They were all given a watch-like device that tracked their movement for 14 years. If during the day there was a long period of inactivity, then it was considered daytime sleep.
– At the beginning of the study, the majority of participants did not have cognitive impairment, it turned out that 75 percent, another 4 percent suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, 21 percent had mild cognitive impairment, which might indicate that they were on the verge of dementia, Yue Leng explained.
The amount of daytime sleep in almost all participants in the experiment increased over the years. But those who averaged sleep on 11 extra minutes more, cognitive impairment did not develop. 25 minutes sleep led to mild disorders, with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, additional sleep amounted to 68 minutes.
“We found that older people who slept at least once a day for more than an hour increased the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease by 40 percent or more,” Yue Leng shared her findings. – Compared to those who did not sleep daily or slept less than an hour.
