What's the connection between sleep and Alzheimer's disease?

Does not getting enough sleep lead to Alzheimer's disease? Sleep scientist Matt Walker explains the relationship between the two -- and how researchers are exploring how to use sleep to decrease our chances of developing this condition.

We're now becoming aware
of a significant relationship

between sleep and Alzheimer's disease.

[Sleeping with Science]

Now, Alzheimer's disease
is a form of dementia

typified usually by memory loss
and memory decline.

And what we've started to understand

is that there are several
different proteins

that seem to go awry
in Alzheimer's disease.

One of those proteins
is a sticky, toxic substance

called beta-amyloid
that builds up in the brain.

The other is something called tau protein.

How are these things related to sleep?

Well first, if we look at a large-scale
epidemiological level,

what we know is that individuals

who report sleeping typically
less than six hours a night,

have a significantly higher risk

of going on to develop high amounts

of that beta-amyloid
in their brain later in life.

We also know that two sleep disorders,

including insomnia and sleep apnea,
or heavy snoring,

are associated with
a significantly higher risk

of Alzheimer's disease in late life.

Those are, of course,
simply associational studies.

They don't prove causality.

But more recently,

we actually have identified
that causal evidence.

In fact, if you take a healthy human being

and you deprive them
of sleep for just one night,

and the next day,
we see an immediate increase

in that beta-amyloid,

both circulating in their bloodstream,

circulating in what we call
the cerebrospinal fluid,

and most recently,
after just one night of sleep,

using special brain-imaging technology,

scientists have found
that there is an immediate increase

in beta-amyloid
directly in the brain itself.

So that's the causal evidence.

What is it then about sleep

that seems to provide a mechanism

that prevents the escalation

of these Alzheimer's-related proteins?

Well, several years ago,

a scientist called Maiken Nedergaard

made a remarkable discovery.

What she identified
was a cleansing system in the brain.

Now, before that,

we knew that the body
had a cleansing system

and many of you may be familiar with this.

It's called the lymphatic system.

But we didn't think that the brain
had its own cleansing system.

And studying mice,

she was actually able to identify
a sewage system within the brain

called the glymphatic system,

named after the cells that make it up,

called these glial cells.

Now, if that wasn't remarkable enough,

she went on to make
two more incredible discoveries.

First, what she found is that
that cleansing system in the brain

is not always switched on
in high-flow volume

across the 24-hour period.

Instead, it was when those mice
were actually sleeping,

particularly when they went
into deep non-REM sleep,

that that cleansing system
kicked into high gear.

The third component that she discovered,

and this is what makes it relevant

to our discussion on Alzheimer's disease,

is that one of the metabolic by-products,

one of the toxins
that was cleared away during sleep,

was that sticky,
toxic protein, beta-amyloid,

linked to Alzheimer's disease.

And just recently,
scientists in Boston have discovered

a very similar type of pulsing,
cleansing brain-mechanism

in human beings as well.

Now, some of this discussion
may sound perhaps a little depressing.

We know that as we get older in life,

our sleep seems to typically decline,

and our risk for Alzheimer's
generally increases.

But I think there's actually
a silver lining here,

because unlike many of the other factors

that are associated
with aging and Alzheimer's disease,

for example, changes
in the physical structure of the brain,

those are fiendishly difficult to treat

and medicine doesn't have any good
wholesale approaches right now.

But that sleep is a missing piece

in the explanatory puzzle
of aging and Alzheimer's disease

is exciting because we may be
able to do something about it.

What if we could actually
augment human sleep

and try to improve the quality

of that deep sleep in midlife,

which is when we start to see
the decline in deep sleep

beginning to happen.

What if we could actually shift

from a model of late-stage
treatment in Alzheimer's disease

to a model of midlife prevention?

Could we go from sick care
to actually healthcare?

And by modifying sleep,

could we actually bend the arrow

of Alzheimer's disease risk
down on itself?

That's something
that I'm incredibly excited about

and something that we're actively
researching right now.