New evidence from Penn State researchers reveals that sleep-dependent brain activity helps to clear toxins that are related to Alzheimer’s disease. In a sample of 118 participants, Han and colleagues found that individuals who had Alzheimer’s or who were at higher risk for Alzheimer’s had a weaker connection between brain activity and cerebrospinal (CSF) flow. Those with a weaker connection also had higher levels of amyloid-β in the brain (a bad thing) and poorer performance on pathology-related tasks. So, you might be asking… what does this mean, practically speaking? This research is telling us that sleep-dependent brain activity is important for clearing brain waste which may be protective against Alzheimer’s disease. This then implicates the importance of getting sufficient high quality sleep for brain health!
Sleep is not the only behavior related to Alzheimer’s disease. Physical activity is another behavior that is thought to influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease. You could be eligible to help researchers explore this relationship!