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(STUDY FINDS) -- TROY, N.Y. — A good night’s sleep every night may be the best way to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study reveals. Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say a person’s circadian rhythms play a key role in wiping out a protein that clumps up in the brain and eventually causes dementia.
Specifically, the study found that healthy sleep habits and avoiding sleep interruptions help the brain clear out the protein Amyloid-Beta 42 (AB42). In Alzheimer’s patients, previous studies have revealed that increasing levels of AB42 “clumping up” in the brain is one of the tell-tale signs of the disease’s onset. The new report found that maintaining a healthy circadian cycle boosts the immune system’s ability to flush harmful proteins from a person’s system.
“Circadian regulation of immune cells plays a role in the intricate relationship between the circadian clock and Alzheimer’s disease,” says Jennifer Hurley, an expert in circadian rhythms, and associate professor of biological science, in a university release. “This tells us a healthy sleep pattern might be important to alleviate some of the symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease, and this beneficial effect might be imparted by an immune cell type called macrophages/microglia.”
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