New thesis on how sleep affects brain health and Alzheimer’s risk
This thesis explores how diverse sleep features relate to biological markers of aging and Alzheimer’s risk, revealing strong links between poor sleep and key indicators of cognitive decline.
What is the main focus of your thesis?
”In the last four years I have studied sleep in aging, both in healthy aging and aging with cognitive impairment. However, why study this? First, sleep is increasingly acknowledged for its importance for our health, and thus we need to better understand the relationship between sleep and biological measures. Second, research predicts that multiple factors may lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and one of these factors discussed is sleep. Therefore, the PhD wanted to examine how sleep relates with multiple markers of our biology in aging, to better understand how sleep might be linked with Alzheimer’s disease”, says Charlotte Sørensen, doctoral student at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society.
Which are the most important results?
”Overall, three important conclusions can be made. One, sleep features of disturbed or poor sleep have extensive relationship with our biology from central brain measures to peripheral measures. Second, sleep is multifaceted by nature. However, most often we simply think of sleep duration or having a sleep disorder. The PhD has looked at sleep from multiple angles examining different features of sleep, including sleep timing, sleep consistency, sleep satisfaction, daytime alertness, and so on. Importantly, we found that different features of sleep relate with different aspects of our biology. Third, features of poor sleep are associated with aspects of our biology that are already established as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, further linking sleep with Alzheimer’s disease.”
How can this new knowledge contribute to the improvement of people’s health?
”Firstly, the PhD has improved the knowledge of how different sleep features are associated with different aspects of our biology. Secondly, the work of the PhD may help us to better understand the link between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease and highlight the potential of incorporating sleep health strategies in future prevention initiatives.”
What’s in the future for you? Will you continue to conduct research?
”Yes, I would like to keep researching the relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease. More broadly, I would like to do research that improves our understanding of how different features of sleep are associated with different aspects of health. And importantly, I would like to work on translating the knowledge into clinical practice and public sleep health promotion.”