New study finds sleeping pill reduces buildup of Alzheimer’s plaques
Is there a link between poor sleep or insomnia and Alzheimer’s disease? That’s something that researchers are investigating. A new study published in the Annals of Neurology found one common sleeping pill helped to reduce the buildup of protein plaques associated with the debilitating disease.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis conducted a two-night sleep clinic study in a small group of healthy adults to determine whether taking the sleep medication suvorexant (sold under the brand name Belsomra) and improved sleep would affect the amount of amyloid-beta and tau proteins in the brain. Disrupted sleep can be one early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease, and researchers are focusing on whether improved sleep could help prevent or delay its development by helping the brain get rid of these excess proteins.
In the study, doctors collected cerebrospinal fluid from volunteers ages 45 to 65 who showed no signs of cognitive impairment and had no sleep issues. They then gave the subjects a dose of either suvorexant or a placebo. They continued to collect fluid samples for comparison over the next 36 hours while the volunteers slept and during the next day.
While the study participants didn’t report any difference in sleep between those who got the medication and those taking placebo, the researchers found 10 to 20% lower levels of amyloid-beta proteins in those taking the medication. A higher dose of the drug also reduced concentrations of the protein hyperphosphorylated tau, which has been linked to plaque tangles in the brain, possibly contributing to Alzheimer’s disease.
While that information may be promising and lead to further studies, the theory that these clumps of protein, or tangles, actually lead to Alzheimer’s disease is still not proven. Decades of research on the subject has still not led to any successful therapy to combat the cognitive decline.
“There’s pretty good evidence that disrupted sleep is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. There’s also pretty compelling evidence that having more plaques and tangles in your brain is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s,” says Dr. Carol Schramke, Director of Behavioral Neurology at Allegheny Health Network (AHN). “A lot of the drug studies have focused on trying to get your brain to look better and for the amyloid plaques to be lessened. Unfortunately, they’ve spent a lot of money and that hasn’t made people better.”
As for using sleep medication as a preventative for Alzheimer’s disease, the science is not there yet. “Certainly, if there’s a sleep medicine that both helps with sleep and reduces the amyloid burden, that’s exciting,” says Schramke. “That’s great news. Let’s research that some more, but we can’t give it to everybody.”
Schramke said there is good evidence that a healthy diet, exercise, controlling diabetes, dealing with stress, wearing hearing aids if needed and improving sleep habits all lessen the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“We really think now that trying to get good sleep, at least six hours, is associated with a number of different health problems,” says Schramke. “We know that sleep apnea, which disrupts your sleep, also is associated with increased risk of dementia and other health problems. So I think there is good evidence that getting better sleep and making sure you allow yourself enough time to sleep is going to be good for you. But it is also possible and probably likely that if your brain is starting to deteriorate, that could affect your sleep.”
As for getting more and better sleep, she says the best researched and recommended way of improving sleep is cognitive behavioral therapy specifically for insomnia, learning relaxation techniques and getting better sleep hygiene.
“It is setting things up to help yourself sleep,” she said. “Allowing enough time, not lining yourself up with staring at your phone or doing computer things or reading about horrible things that are happening in the world just before you try to go to sleep. Those kinds of strategies tend to be best. It’s not terrible to use sleep aids, but almost all of them have been recommended only for short-term use.”