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Insomnia, but not lack of sleep, may hasten brain shrinkage: study


Poor sleep in midlife, like difficulty falling asleep or waking early, may accelerate brain atrophy linked to dementia, a UCSF study finds.

“While we can’t say that poor sleep causes dementia, earlier research has established an association,” said first author Clémence Cavaillès, PhD, of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The participants, who were 40 years old on average when they enrolled, were part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which investigates the factors that influence cardiovascular disease, as well as how they may relate to dementia. “The study shows that poor sleep could be a target for early interventions to prevent possible cognitive decline,” said senior author Kristine Yaffe, MD, of the UCSF departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurology, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

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Photo of faster brain atrophy

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midlife

Photo of poor sleep

poor sleep