Doing This At Night Increases Your Risk Of Developing Dementia By Almost 30%

We often associate forgetfulness with old age, although memory loss is not considered a typical part of the aging process, according to specialists. Significant memory loss is often an indication of dementia, a combination of symptoms that affects social skills and cognitive function.

While there is no treatment for dementia, there are various strategies to lower your risk and perhaps reverse some of the early signs. Something you might not even aware you' re doing at night is a risk factor for dementia. Experts warn that doing this regularly in your 50s and 60s increases your chance of dementia by 30% later in life.

Read on to find out which evening practice could be putting your health at danger, and why so much depends on it. Several risk factors can raise or decrease your chances of acquiring dementia, some of which are beyond your control, such as your age, family history, or the existence of Down syndrome.

However, you can impact several other elements through your actions, for better or ill. Poor food, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol use, nutritional deficiencies, brain trauma, air pollution exposure, uncontrolled depression, and other factors all increase risk.

Not Getting Enough Sleep At Night: One crucial element you can influence, according to a 2021 study by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is how much sleep you receive. The researchers evaluated data from around 8, 000 British adults without dementia starting at age 50, and published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

The patients were tested on several health parameters between 1985 and 2016, including how many hours they slept every night. " Some of the individuals wore accelerometers to objectively measure sleep time to assess the accuracy of this self- reporting, " the NIH notes. At the conclusion of the trial, 521 people had been diagnosed with dementia, with an average age of 77.

Poor sleep, according to the NIH researchers, could be not only a symptom but also an independent risk factor. " While we can' t prove that not sleeping sufficiently raises the risk of dementia, there are numerous reasons why a good night' s sleep may be beneficial to brain health, " explains Séverine Sabia, MD, one of the study' s primary authors.

To Solidify Memories, Your Brain Requires Sleep: The findings of the study are supported by previous research that suggests that getting enough sleep protects cognitive function and memory.

"Sleep isn't a waste of time or a method to relax once all of our crucial tasks have been completed. Instead, it' s a key function in which your body balances and maintains its vital systems, altering breathing and regulating everything from circulation to growth and immune response" ,neurologist Shai Marcu, MD, noted in a 2015 TED Talk.

He goes on to say that sleep is " crucial for your brain, " because it receives a fifth of your body' s circulatory blood when you sleep. And what happens in your brain while you sleep is a period of very active reorganization that is critical to how our memory functions.

So, if you have the opportunity, go to bed a bit early tonight. Perhaps you'll remember to thank yourself afterwards.