{"id":1032940,"date":"2026-08-30T12:46:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1032940\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T12:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:46:30","slug":"deep-sleep-brain-waves-offer-protection-against-alzheimers-shows-new-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1032940\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Sleep Brain Waves Offer Protection Against Alzheimer\u2019s, Shows New Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Credit: Ruliff Andrean for Unsplash+<\/p>\n

Poor sleep quality has been linked to cognitive decline, neuro-degeneration and Alzheimer\u2019s disease in seniors\u2014but it may be possible to counteract certain risks.<\/p>\n

A new study shows that specific sleep brain waves provide protection against the harmful effects of a brain chemical associated with wakefulness, sleep transition, and narcolepsy.<\/p>\n

Concordia University-led researchers examined levels of the neurotransmitter orexin<\/strong> in the cerebral spinal fluid of 60 adults with mild to moderate Alzheimer\u2019s Disease over a three-year period.<\/p>\n

They found that individuals with elevated levels of orexin, which is vital to sleep and appetite regulation, were more likely to exhibit symptoms of cognitive decline, including poorer memory and thinking, more severe behavioral and psychiatric symptoms and had higher levels of biological markers associated with neurodegenerative disease and inflammation.<\/p>\n

However, that relationship was found to be mitigated by specific brainwaves during sleep. Individuals who produced stronger sleep spindles and sleep oscillations \u2014 types of brainwaves associated with memory support and preservation \u2014 during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep had less cognitive decline over time than those with weaker ones.<\/p>\n

This sleep activity appears to provide neural resilience against the negative effects of higher levels of orexin on their cognition and mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study shows that there is a direct association between orexin levels in the brain and biomarkers of Alzheimer\u2019s disease,\u201d says study co-author<\/a> Thanh Dang-vu, a neurologist and professor in the Department of Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology.<\/p>\n

Clear pathways to treatment<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s data, published in the journal<\/a> Neurology, was collected by researchers at Lleida University in Catalonia, Spain. The 60 participants spent a night in a sleep laboratory where researchers recorded their brain activity using overnight poly-somnography. The following morning, cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected to measure orexin and other established Alzheimer\u2019s biomarkers.<\/p>\n

Participants also completed a series of cognitive and neuropsychiatric assessments at regular intervals over the next three years, allowing researchers to examine how sleep, brain chemistry and cognitive decline changed together over time.<\/p>\n

Struggle Sleeping? <\/strong>These 3 Sleep Habits Are Tied to Signs of Brain Aging, New Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHaving this longitudinal data is important, because Alzheimer\u2019s disease is a moving target,\u201d says the study\u2019s co-first author Arsenio Paez, a neuroscience lecturer in the Sleep, Cognition and Neuroimaging Lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this data, we can see how the course of people\u2019s Alzheimer\u2019s disease changes over time. Alzheimer\u2019s is a very long process, so this gives us a better picture of how conditions can change over time and we might intervene at different stages of the disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers note that orexin-blocking drugs are already being used to treat insomnia and narcolepsy, and are being explored as possible therapies for Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

This study suggests that monitoring sleep spindles, slow oscillations and orexin levels could help measure disease progression and to identify which patients would benefit from specialized treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study shows us that there are new ways to potentially act on sleep to slow the progression of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and opens the door for further studies moving forward,\u201d says Dang-vu.<\/p>\n

REMIND YOUR FRIENDS To Fix Their Sleep By Sharing This\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Ruliff Andrean for Unsplash+ Poor sleep quality has been linked to cognitive decline, neuro-degeneration and Alzheimer\u2019s disease…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1032941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[4465,632,210,517,1183,1079,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1032940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-brain","tag-dementia","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-research","tag-sleep","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117184536264102842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1032940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1032941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1032940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1032940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1032940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}