Why are you getting sleepless as you get older?

ByPaul Curto

When I was a child I think that some people were fine even though I slept for 12 hours a day, but when I become an adult, my sleeping time will be shorter than my childhood, and if I become an elderly, that time becomes even shorter To go. It decreases with taking such a year "time of sleepingNeurologists unravel the mechanism of "

This could explain why older adults can not stay sleep - Futurity
http://www.futurity.org/neurons-older-adults-insomnia-750332/


"The reasons why many elderly people suffer from insomnia and the fundamental causes of other sleep disorders remain unknown," said Andrew Lim, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Toronto . He said, "We found evidence that sleep control becomes difficult when the neurons decrease at a specific position in the brain," he says. When the age is taken and the suppressive neurons decrease from the brain, the sleeping time becomes shorter, It seems he discovered for the first time in history that it might be a cause of Alzheimer's disease.

◆ Serious insomnia
In 1996, at the University of MichiganSaper LabIs a collection of inhibitory neurons located in the part of the brain between rats, ventral lateral somatotrophobia (VLPO) Found working like a "switch to switch between sleeping and awakening". Mr. Lim, who worked at the institute, says, "We have studied animals and realized that this VLPO neuron decreases serious insomnia."

A group of human brain cells is located in the same position as the murine VLPO and the same inhibitory neurotransmitters galanin and VLPO exist. So researchers said, "If the central part of the human brain plays an important role for sleeping like the VLPO of the animal's brain, the VLPO can also be used in the human body as well as in the sleep-wake cycle It may have given a huge impact ".

ByPaolo Margari

◆ Research
To verify this hypothesis,Rush UniversityCarried out inMemory and Aging ProjectAnalyze the research data. The Memory and Aging Project is a research project on community-based aging and dementia, starting from 1997 and surveying more than 1000 elderly people aged 65 years or older, He asked me to donate, and he searched this brain.

Many subjects of such Memory and Aging Project, since 2005ActigraphyIt is said that he is experiencing human activity cycle record every two years called so. In Actigraphy, ask the subject to have a small wristwatch type device attached to the hands of non-dominant hands and have them spend 10 days from 7th. This wristwatch type device constantly monitors the wearer's large and small movements at 15-second intervals, which is said to be useful for research.

ByEd Yourdon

In this project we are also investigating the brains of 45 subjects who died during the study period and the average death age of the brain owners was 89.2 years old. Based on this "post-mortem brain survey data" and "pre-living activity data", Mr. Lim says, "If the central part of the human brain plays an important role for sleeping like the VLPO of the animal's brain That is, the VLPO has exercised a huge influence on the sleep / wake cycle as well in the human body as well ".

◆ Sleep fragmentation
As a result of the verification, "We found that sleep fragmentation is occurring in proportion to the number of VLPO among subjects who are not older Alzheimer's disease," Mr. Lim. According to the research results, among the elderly people aged 65 years or older who are subjects, the smaller the number of neurons is, the more fragmentation of sleep occurs. Furthermore, subjects with a large number of neurons (6000 or more) can sleep for 50 hours or more of sleeping time for a long period of time, that is, sleep that is not shredded, whereas subjects with few neurons (less than 3000) It seems that it has been found that only a long sleep of less than 40% is obtained. In addition, it seems that this symptom appears more seriously among Alzheimer's patients.

ByEpSos .de

"The results of this study may lead to new treatments for insomnia and other sleep disorders of the elderly and recent research suggests that sleep disorders may cause Alzheimer's and enhance symptoms There is a possibility that some clues to improve or delay the symptoms can be grasped from here ", Mr. Lim talks about future prospects.