What is “deep sleep”? What is it like? How do you know if you have quality sleep?. Deep sleep is an important period of sleep where the body and brain get full rest. It is the time when the body enters the mode of repairing and restoring itself. Many people may understand that getting enough sleep for only 7-8 hours is enough. But in fact, the quality of sleep, especially deep sleep, has a great impact on our health.
What is deep sleep?
Medical experts recommend that most adults get about 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Our bodies have four main sleep cycles:
- 3 Non-REM stages
- REM stage 1
The first two stages of Non-REM occur as the body begins to enter sleep. The third Non-REM stage is called “deep sleep.” It is the longest of the three Non-REM stages. During this time, the body’s heart rate and breathing slow down, and brain waves become slower and larger. It is usually very difficult to wake someone in deep sleep.
During deep sleep, the body replenishes energy, repairs worn out cells, and builds tissue and bone. In addition, past studies have also found that deep sleep helps strengthen the body’s immune system and plays an important role in maintaining brain health by helping develop and retain memories. Enhancing intellectual abilities, and making learning more efficient.
Why does deep sleep affect dementia?
Since deep sleep plays a key role in maintaining brain health. Insufficient sleep may increase the risk of developing brain-related diseases such as dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
- A study published in April 2021 found that people aged 50-60 who slept less than six hours a night had a higher risk of developing dementia later in life.
- A study published in June 2021 reported that deep sleep may help remove toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease from the brain.
- A study published in May 2023 provided evidence suggesting that deep sleep may help prevent memory loss in older adults with high levels of beta-amyloid in the brain, a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Medical News Today spoke with Dr. David Merrill, a geriatric psychiatrist and director of the Pacific Brain Health Center at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California, about the study.
He said the study has several important implications. Including that slow-wave sleep loss may be a modifiable risk factor for dementia, the most common cause of which is Alzheimer’s.
“We know that age and genetics are non-modifiable risk factors. But the good news is that we are finding many ways to improve the modifiable risk factors, and sleep quality is certainly one of them,” says Dr. Merrill.
When asked how people can get enough sleep to reduce their risk of developing dementia, Dr. Merrill said to focus on habits and behavioral strategies.
Clarifying the link between sleep, aging and dementia risk
For the study, researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, examined data from 346 participants over the age of 60 who were enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study. All participants underwent two overnight sleep studies, with approximately five years between each study.
On average, the amount of deep sleep each participant experienced decreased between the two studies,. Suggesting age-related slow-wave sleep loss, the researchers reported.
Scientists also followed study participants from the time they took their second sleep study until 2018 to look for a diagnosis of dementia.
“Responding to the increasing incidence of dementia is one of the most significant challenges of our time,” Dr Matthew Pace. An associate professor in the เล่น UFABET ผ่านมือถือ สะดวกทุกที่ ทุกเวลา School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mind Health in Melbourne, Australia, and senior author of the study, told Medical News Today.
“Because we don’t have any proven treatments that can permanently stop or reverse dementia. We are interested in understanding how we can prevent dementia in the first place,” he said.
“For the purpose of informing dementia prevention strategies. We were interested in elucidating how sleep changes with age and whether age-related changes in sleep are associated with dementia risk,” he added.
Decreased deep sleep increases the risk of dementia
In their analysis, the researchers found a total of 52 people with dementia. Even after adjusting for factors including age, gender, and use of sleep medications, they found that each percent decrease in deep sleep per year was associated with a 27% increase in the risk of developing dementia.
Further description:
- Decreased deep sleep: This means that we are able to get less and less deep sleep over time, which is a sign of brain deterioration.
- Dementia Risk: Refers to the chance that we will develop a dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, which is a disease that causes memory and intelligence to decline.
- Adjustment for various factors: This means taking into account other factors that may affect the development of dementia, such as age, gender, and medication, to obtain more accurate research results.