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Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

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Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#41

Post by Darkphibre »

jackTheMan wrote: post #26
sicromoft wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be warned, that book is riddled with scientific and factual errors: https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

Very interesting writing, I wonder if the people sleeping just 6 hours (who are in the best condition acc. to a later explanation) wouldn't be because they have a cause in their life? They have a purpose that is why they get up early and motivated enough to work on it. For people with more sleep might be less motivated in average? Interesting topic nevertheless.

I find this to be true. I sleep in 90-minute sleep cycles. I time my morning alarm thus (adding 10-15 minutes for initial spindown).

When I wake up, even if it's 4.5hrs, my brain is typically going a mile-a-minute. There's so much I want to accomplish, it's hard to be mindful and go back to sleep (so I rarely do, especially if it's 'only' 6hrs vs. the 7.5 I seem to need).

I looked back at my sleep logs, and I've slept longer than 7.5 only a handful of times in 2020, and it's always correlated with several nights of 1.5, 3, or 4.5 hrs.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#42

Post by Darkphibre »

kevmo wrote: post #18
silverpepsi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope not. I increased my caffeine consumption intentionally 5x in the past decade because alzheimer's runs in both sides of the family.

I'm not a doctor, just a person who also has Alzheimer's in his family, so I've thought and read a lot about it. My recipe is basically: Sleep enough, exercise (especially outside), eat right, make sure your brain is active and engaged on a regular basis (read real books, challenge yourself by getting out of your intellectual comfort zone). Studies show that coffee is good for Alzheimer's, so as long as you're not us…

Is it coffee? Or is it caffeine (i.e. tea, etc.)?

I consume around 500-1000mg of caffeine a day (very carefully timed so as not to get jitters). I can't handle a higher dose of Adderall XR, so I've embraced my higher caffeine intakes as a way to soothe the mind. That said, I don't care for the flavor of coffee, so I typically consume it via Red Bull/5hr/tablet form.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#43

Post by James_Henry »

rubicon33 wrote: post #22
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a great book for emphasizing the importance of sleep. The author's desired outcome is to get people interested in healthy sleep habits, and he hits a home run in that regard. However, take some of the science positions in the book with a grain of salt. The author is notorious for being directionally correct in his opinions, but exaggerating a lot of the science for dramatic effect. This doesn't matter at all if…

I have a weird relationship with sleep. If I sleep LESS (5, 6 hours) I feel better. More energy, lighter on my feet, less depressed. That lack of sleep always catches up with me though, and after 4-5 days of that I'll have a day where I just feel EXHAUSTED and end up sleeping like 10 hours that night.

Wake therapy is a well known treatment for depression, but I have a theory that for some people this sort of thing is a sign of sleep apnea. The reason being sleep breathing is more likely to be disturbed during REM which is more predominant in the later hours of sleep. So skipping those last 1 or 2 REM cycles could be skipping out on, for sleep apneacs, the most stressful parts of the sleep.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#44

Post by James_Henry »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #25
rubicon33 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a weird relationship with sleep. If I sleep LESS (5, 6 hours) I feel better. More energy, lighter on my feet, less depressed. That lack of sleep always catches up with me though, and after 4-5 days of that I'll have a day where I just feel EXHAUSTED and end up sleeping like 10 hours that night.

> If I sleep LESS (5, 6 hours) I feel better. More energy, lighter on my feet, less depressed. This is a well-known phenomenon, believe it or not. Acute sleep deprivation has a strong anti-depressant effect in people suffering from depression. It can even trigger hypomanic or manic episodes in people who have bipolar disorder. Scientific American wrote a nice article about it several years ago: https://www.scientific…

In studies on wake therapy I've seen, there is a percentage that have long-lasting positive improvement from just one night of sleep deprivation.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#45

Post by Darkphibre »

adamredwoods wrote: post #20
remote_phone wrote: post #8

My mother has dementia, and I know 5 other close friends that are starting to deal with it as well. This is becoming an epidemic and what people don’t realize is that it is extremely expensive and exceedingly cruel. Most health care systems, including Canada and the US, do not handle dementia well at all. You have the choice of becoming financially destitute keeping your parents in a dignified setting, or you can let…

My mother was purposely financially destitute when she died post dementia. It was the only way for the state to help pay for services without collecting everything (house, car, pension, etc). Later we were able to put her on hospice and that offered much more assistance. I cannot describe the stress in trying to figure out financials as a loved one is dying. It led to many sleepless nights...

Lost both my parents over the years. For my mom I sunk all available income paying for in-home care. For my dad I... couldn't, so we had to go the purposeful route.

Condolences on the financial stresses, it truly is a burden that arrives at the worst of times.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#46

Post by James_Henry »

mbesto wrote: post #34
rubicon33 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a weird relationship with sleep. If I sleep LESS (5, 6 hours) I feel better. More energy, lighter on my feet, less depressed. That lack of sleep always catches up with me though, and after 4-5 days of that I'll have a day where I just feel EXHAUSTED and end up sleeping like 10 hours that night.

> and end up sleeping like 10 hours that night Paraphrased from the book - basically once you get passed the number of REM cycles needed all of the sleep after that is worthless and ends up just making you groggy. In other words the idea of "catching up on sleep" is BS.

Does the book give sources for this? And do those sources actually support this claim? It doesn't sound completely correct.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#47

Post by klondike_klive »

exhilaration wrote: post #29
adamredwoods wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mother was purposely financially destitute when she died post dementia. It was the only way for the state to help pay for services without collecting everything (house, car, pension, etc). Later we were able to put her on hospice and that offered much more assistance. I cannot describe the stress in trying to figure out financials as a loved one is dying. It led to many sleepless nights...

We're just going through this with my dad, far fewer resources for the middle class when it come to getting assistance at home. Becoming "purposely financially destitute" sounds like a good strategy but I'm sure it has its own risks.

At least in the UK attempts to gift money to relatives or sell a house to prevent it being sold to pay for social care is seen as "deprivation of assets" in a financial assessment.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#48

Post by James_Henry »

criddell wrote: post #21
sicromoft wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be warned, that book is riddled with scientific and factual errors: https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

Walker has responded to some of this: https://sleepdiplomat.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/why-we-sleep-...

Is this really Walker? I think that Alexey Guzey responded to this blog post though. It doesn't really counter any of Alexey's points.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#49

Post by klondike_klive »

adamredwoods wrote: post #20
remote_phone wrote: post #8

My mother has dementia, and I know 5 other close friends that are starting to deal with it as well. This is becoming an epidemic and what people don’t realize is that it is extremely expensive and exceedingly cruel. Most health care systems, including Canada and the US, do not handle dementia well at all. You have the choice of becoming financially destitute keeping your parents in a dignified setting, or you can let…

My mother was purposely financially destitute when she died post dementia. It was the only way for the state to help pay for services without collecting everything (house, car, pension, etc). Later we were able to put her on hospice and that offered much more assistance. I cannot describe the stress in trying to figure out financials as a loved one is dying. It led to many sleepless nights...

It's a real kick in the balls isn't it. We've been spared having to sell my parents' house for now because my mom died last week of Alzheimers. Now facing the prospect of having to think about it all over again for my father. I need to start living better.

Re: Biomarker of Alzheimer's found to be regulated by sleep cycles

#50

Post by dcolkitt »

I believe in 100 years we'll look back in horror at our society's casual indifference to routinely waking adolescents, a group with the latest shifted circadian rhythms, wake up before dawn. Much the same way that we look back at horror with the past's casual indifference to smoking.
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