Sleep quality and sleep duration predict brain microstructure among community-dwelling older adults

Tsiknia, Amaryllis A.; Parada, Humberto; Banks, Sarah J.; Reas, Emilie T.

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.02.001

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…In the present analyses, sleep duration was for most participants measured at a single time point, making it impossible to distinguish stable from changing sleep patterns. Still, we have previously found good stability in self-reported sleep over time (Fjell et al, 2018;Tsiknia et al, 2023), and another study found current self-reported sleep quality to be as tightly related to brain characteristics as longitudinal measures of sleep (Sexton et al, 2017).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Is Short Sleep Bad for the Brain? Brain Structure and Cognitive Function in Short Sleepers

et al. 2023

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Many sleep less than recommended without experiencing daytime sleepiness. According to prevailing views, short sleep increases risk of lower brain health and cognitive function. Chronic mild sleep deprivation could cause undetected sleep debt, negatively affecting cognitive function and brain health. However, it is possible that some have less sleep need and are more resistant to negative effects of sleep loss. We investigated this using a cross-sectional and longitudinal sample of 47,029 participants of both sexes (20-89 years) from the Lifebrain consortium, Human Connectome project and UK Biobank, with measures of self-reported sleep, including 51,295 MRIs of the brain and cognitive tests. 740 participants who reported to sleep < 6 hours did not experience daytime sleepiness or sleep problems/disturbances interfering with falling or staying asleep. These short sleepers showed significantly larger regional brain volumes than both short sleepers with daytime sleepiness and sleep problems (n = 1742) and participants sleeping the recommended 7-8 hours (n = 3886). However, both groups of short sleepers showed slightly lower general cognitive function, 0.16 and 0.19 standard deviations, respectively. Analyses using acelerometer-estimated sleep duration confirmed the findings, and the associations remained after controlling for body mass index, depression symptoms, income and education. The results suggest that some people can cope with less sleep without obvious negative associations with brain morphometry, and that sleepiness and sleep problems may be more related to brain structural differences than duration. However, the slightly lower performance on tests of general cognitive abilities warrants closer examination in natural settings.Significance statementShort habitual sleep is prevalent, with unknown consequences for brain health and cognitive performance. Here we show that daytime sleepiness and sleep problems are more strongly related to regional brain volumes than sleep duration. However, participants sleeping ≤ 6 hours had slightly lower scores on tests of general cognitive function. This indicates that sleep need is individual, and that sleep duration per se is very weakly if at all related brain health, while daytime sleepiness and sleep problems may show somewhat stronger associations. The association between habitual short sleep and lower scores on tests of general cognitive abilities must be further scrutinized in natural settings.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Is Short Sleep Bad for the Brain? Brain Structure and Cognitive Function in Short Sleepers

et al. 2023

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“…Furthermore, Tsiknia et al demonstrated poor sleep quality in older people with age-related brain atrophy. This study revealed that sleep disturbances were associated with subtle microstructural brain injury, even when detectable volume loss or cortical thinning was not evident [16]. In a comprehensive national observational study, the authors demonstrated a notable surge in the prevalence of poor sleep quality and short sleep duration among older adults over 10 years.…”

Section: Sleep and Healthy Agingmentioning

confidence: 79%

Could Sleep Hygiene Play a Role in Fostering Healthy Aging by Promoting Sleep Quality?: A Hypothesis

Gökçen

2023

AAEE

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Sleep disturbances or alterations in sleep patterns are commonly observed in older individuals as they age. Moreover, sleep problems may potentially contribute to the impairment of the healthy aging process, thereby leading to frailty in the geriatric population. The vicious cycle between sleep problems and aging can be broken by implementing sleep hygiene strategies that lead to improved sleep quality. The present hypothesis emphasizes that ensuring proper sleep hygiene can contribute to promoting healthy aging among older individuals.

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“…Whereas long sleep duration was associated with higher WMH burden, 25 reporting both short and long sleep duration in older women was associated with subsequent higher FW values. 26 Short sleep duration, rather than longer sleep, seems more consistently associated with atrophy. 27,28 In cognitively healthy participants, baseline short and long sleep duration were associated with subsequent atrophy rates over frontal and temporal regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Association of Sleep Duration and Change Over Time With Imaging Biomarkers of Cerebrovascular, Amyloid, Tau, and Neurodegenerative Pathology

Baril,

Kojis,

Himali

et al. 2024

Neurology

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Background and Objectives Both short and long sleep duration were previously associated with incident dementia, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We evaluated how self-reported sleep duration and its change over time associate with (A)myloid, (T)au, (N)eurodegeneration, and (V)ascular neuroimaging markers of Alzheimer disease. Methods Two Framingham Heart Study overlapping samples were studied: participants who underwent 11C-Pittsburg Compound B amyloid and 18F-flortaucipir tau PET imaging and participants who underwent an MRI. MRI metrics estimated neurodegeneration (total brain volume) and cerebrovascular injuries (white matter hyperintensities [WMHs] volume, covert brain infarcts, free-water [FW] fraction). Self-reported sleep duration was assessed and split into categories both at the time of neuroimaging testing and approximately 13 years before: short ≤6 hours. average 7–8 hours, and long ≥9 hours. Logistic and linear regression models were used to examine sleep duration and neuroimaging metrics. Results The tested cohort was composed of 271 participants (age 53.6 ± 8.0 years; 51% male) in the PET imaging sample and 2,165 participants (age 61.3 ± 11.1 years; 45% male) in the MRI sample. No fully adjusted association was observed between cross-sectional sleep duration and neuroimaging metrics. In fully adjusted models compared with consistently sleeping 7–8 hours, groups transitioning to a longer sleep duration category over time had higher FW fraction (short to average β [SE] 0.0062 [0.0024], p = 0.009; short to long β [SE] 0.0164 [0.0076], p = 0.031; average to long β [SE] 0.0083 [0.0022], p = 0.002), and those specifically going from average to long sleep duration also had higher WMH burden (β [SE] 0.29 [0.11], p = 0.007). The opposite associations (lower WMH and FW) were observed in participants consistently sleeping ≥9 hours as compared with people consistently sleeping 7–8 hours in fully adjusted models (β [SE] −0.43 [0.20], p = 0.028; β [SE] −0.019 [0.004], p = 0.020). Each hour of increasing sleep (continuous, β [SE] 0.12 [0.04], p = 0.003; β [SE] 0.002 [0.001], p = 0.021) and extensive increase in sleep duration (≥2 hours vs 0 ± 1 hour change; β [SE] 0.24 [0.10], p = 0.019; β [SE] 0.0081 [0.0025], p = 0.001) over time was associated with higher WMH burden and FW fraction in fully adjusted models. Sleep duration change was not associated with PET amyloid or tau outcomes. Discussion Longer self-reported sleep duration over time was associated with neuroimaging biomarkers of cerebrovascular pathology as evidenced by higher WMH burden and FW fraction. A longer sleep duration extending over time may be an early change in the neurodegenerative trajectory.

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Sleep quality and sleep duration predict brain microstructure among community-dwelling older adults

Cited by 11 publications

References 51 publications

Is Short Sleep Bad for the Brain? Brain Structure and Cognitive Function in Short Sleepers

Is Short Sleep Bad for the Brain? Brain Structure and Cognitive Function in Short Sleepers

Could Sleep Hygiene Play a Role in Fostering Healthy Aging by Promoting Sleep Quality?: A Hypothesis

Association of Sleep Duration and Change Over Time With Imaging Biomarkers of Cerebrovascular, Amyloid, Tau, and Neurodegenerative Pathology

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