Letter re: Prolonged sleep duration as a marker of early neurodegeneration predicting incident dementia

I read with interest the article by Westwood et al.,1 which implicated prolonged sleep duration as a potential marker of early-onset neurodegeneration and subsequent dementia. There is possibly a pivotal role of fragmented, and thereby disturbed, sleep hygiene in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. These patients spend minimal time of their sleep in the REM phase, which is crucial for clearance of metabolic waste, especially β-amyloid plagues, through the paravascular pathways in the brain.2 This is accountable for early neurodegenerative processes. Further studies monitoring total time spent in each phase of sleep and neuroimaging for confirming deposition of amyloid plagues would further provide supportive cues in solving this issue.
Source: Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: WRITECLICK & amp;reg; EDITOR ' S CHOICE Source Type: research