Good Sleep Does Get Tougher with Age

There is a “bi-directional” link between sleep disruptions and the dementia process. Dementia often causes sleep problems; poor sleep, in turn, may speed declines in memory and other mental skills. According to Winer, animal research suggests that deep sleep helps “clear” the brain of the amyloid-beta proteins that build up in people with dementia. Older people are famously prone to being “early to bed, early to rise.” They may also sleep a little less than they used to in their younger days. And that may be fine. Similar vicious cycles may be at work with other diseases, too.

Good Sleep Does Get Tougher with Age