1. Why does people with Alzheimer’s sleep more during the day? How does it affect sleeping routines?
EFF: It has been well documented that sleep-wake disturbance is a common and early feature in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). If one does not have a good sleep at night, then it is common to see a possibility of additional power naps of AD patients at daytime. This study led by Dr. Lea T. Grinberg at UCSF showed profound degeneration of wake-promoting neurons in AD. This explains why AD patients sleep more during the day, possibly as a compensation of disturbed normal sleep at night. Thus, increased power naps greatly affect sleeping routines and are negative to people’s daily life.
2. Could you tell me about what you find most interesting in this study, and why?
EFF: The key finding in this study is a proposed new explanation of sleep-wake disturbances in the AD patients. Thus, this finding may provide an additional phenotypical diagnostic standard for early AD patients. However, increased power naps is not specific to AD, thus other phenotypic and pathological diagnostic tools should be jointed used for AD diagnosis.
Image: Dagbladet pluss.
Online: https://www.dagbladet.no/pluss (15 August 2019 issue)
Tusen Takk to the awesome journalist Ida Bergersen
Evandro Fang Lab 