Trouble Sleeping? It May Affect Your Memory Later On

That’s the title of this article.  It has to do with the how many times you awaken during the night. “The amount and quality of sleep you get at night may affect your memory later in life, according to research that was released today and will be presented the American Academy of Neurology’s 64^th Annual Meeting in New Orleans…”  It affects your memory later in life. “Disrupted sleep appears to be associated with the build-up of amyloid plaques, a hallmark marker of Alzheimer’s disease, in the brains of people with memory problems… Further research is needed to determine why this is happening and whether sleep changes may predict cognitive decline.”  It is disrupted sleep that seems to be the problem.

My memory has never been a problem.  Especially numbers, although lately if I try to remember something I always forget one thing.  I remember it before it becomes a problem.  Although it is not too worrisome for me, I sleep and do not wake up that many times a night. It goes on to say: “Researches tested the sleep patterns of 100 people between the ages of 45 and 80 who were free of dementia.  Half of the group had a family history of Alzheimer’s disease. A device was placed on the participants for two weeks to measure sleep.  Sleep diaries and questionnaires were also analyzed by researchers.”  It is good to note they had a family history of Alzheimer’s.
The article goes on to say: “After the study, it was discovered that 25 percent of the participants had evidence of amyloid plaques, which can appear years before the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease begin. The average time a person spent in bed during the study was about eight hours, but the average sleep time was 6.5 hours due to short awakening in the night.”  What is causing them to awaken during the night?  They do not answer that question.  I rely on my memory so that would be hard on me if I was ever to lose it.  I do make a list when I go to the store as I would forget something if I did not.
It must be different than just having insomnia. “The study found that people who woke up more than five times per hour were more likely to have amyloid plaque build-up compared to people who didn’t wake up as much. The study also found those people who slept ‘less efficiently’ were more likely to have the markers of early stage Alzheimer’s disease than those who slept more efficiently.  In other words, those who spent less than 85 percent of their time in bed actually sleeping were more likely to have the markers than those who spent more than 85 percent of their time in bed actually sleeping.”   Do they get less than 85 percent of sleep every night?
What are they going to do with this information? “The association between disrupted sleep and amyloid plaques is intriguing, but the information from this study can’t determine a cause-effect relationship or the direction of this relationship.  We need longer-term studies, following individual’s sleep over years, to determine whether disrupted sleep leads to amyloid plaques, or whether brain changes in early Alzheimer’s disease lead to changes in sleep, … Our study lays the groundwork for investigating whether manipulating sleep is possible strategy in the prevention or slowing of Alzheimer’s disease.”  Only my grandfather had dementia.  None of my other family members lived long enough to know if they would have any other diseases or stuff wrong with them.  I just have to stay exercising and do the right things and I am sure I will be alright.

Stress

I wrote last week what happened when I had stress before my mental illness in this blog.  I will talk some more today about stress and how it affects me and others.  This article  gives some examples of stress and how to overcome it.  As I wrote last week I do not have all the answers to give someone when they are facing stress.  I can only be a sounding board.
What do you tell someone when they have no job, no money and they have kids to feed.  You can say it will get better.  That is all.  As I wrote in last week’s blog the biggest stress I ever had was facing twenty four years in prison.  It made me forget a person I knew well.   Today if I get stressed I usually will try and put it in the back of my mind and watch a movie or if I am really stressed it is music time.  That helps me forget and let the problem ruminate in the back of my mind it is where I do the best.
I know how problems in the subconscious will wake you up in the middle of the night and you will say why I am I awake.  Then the problem will come to light.  I just try and think of something else and get back to sleep.  It is not that easy for a lot of people.  Usually by morning I will feel better about the problem.  Sleep does wonders for me.  Everyone is different.  You would not be able to tell that I have a mental illness my Geodon works wonders for me.  I take it two or three hours before I want to sleep and I sleep.  I know when I do not take it because I cannot sleep and I will go look and make sure I took it.
I do not have the problem of stress with it like I had when I took moban.  Then when my turtle died it affected me and I could not sleep until early the next morning and had to take a PRN for that.  Now I do not have that problem.  I often wonder would I be tired if I did not have to take my medicine I will never try to find out because of bringing my mental illness back.  Although I see how family and friend react to loss of sleep and I do not have that problem.  I will yawn sometimes although that is with at least eight hours of sleep.
I wish there was some way that everyone with a mental illness did not have problems.  I mean negative problems.  If this illness did not happen when I was already twenty eight and happened earlier would I have went to college would I have done so well?  My mom is my sounding board when I went through college and even now.  I believe we all have to have someone to tell are problems to and the relief we have afterwards when we get it off our chest.  Then the answers will usually come to me after I got it off my chest.