Posted on 01/14/2016 8:50:10 PM PST by BenLurkin
The researchers had shown that fragmented sleep - which is sleep interrupted by frequent awakenings or arousals — was linked with an increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline, Lim told Live Science. "However, there were gaps in what we knew about underlying brain changes that may link sleep fragmentation with these neurological outcomes," he said.
In the new study, the researchers looked at the brains of 315 people who underwent autopsies after they died. The people were 90 years old, on average, when they died, and 70 percent were women. At some point before they died, the people in the study had had their daily activity and sleep monitored for at least one full week. Based on the data from the monitoring, the researchers assessed the quality of the people's sleep.
Of all the people whose brains were examined, 29 percent had had a stroke and 61 percent showed damage in their blood vessels in the brain, which ranged from moderate to severe.
The researchers found that the people whose sleep was often interrupted were 27 percent more likely to have hardened arteries in the brain than people who slept without interruption.
The people whose sleep was often interrupted were also 31 percent more likely to have damage to brain tissue due to lack of oxygen, compared with those who slept without interruption.
The study found an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship, between poor sleep and brain problems. It's possible that interrupted sleep could be either a cause or a consequence of the hardening of blood vessels in the brain and damage to brain tissue, or that some other unknown underlying factor contributed to both sleep problems and the damage in the brains, the researchers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I think the suddenly means that they were alive then dead, rather than lingering, comatose for several days. Process rather than expectation.
You are right, Chickensoup! That’s the way I’d like to go (if I had a choice.. and we don’t).
Doomed I say...
Me too. Nothing works to keep me asleep.
130am?
LOL
I see no reason to conclude that the arteries were the cause as opposed to the result.
Yup, I’d already been up 3 times before that...
Gotta take them pills so you don’t pee so much...
Yes. I used to tell the guys at the gym that exercising increases your chances of dying of cancer -- because it reduces your chances of dying of a heart attack, and you're going to die of something.
Walking increases you chances of walking over a cliff while playing on your cell phone ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.