Sleep quality and duration improve cognition in aging populations

University of Oregon-led research finds women sleeping longer and struggling with quality

2014-06-16

(Press-News.org) EUGENE, Ore. -- (June 16, 2014) -- Maybe turning to sleep gadgets -- wristbands, sound therapy and sleep-monitoring smartphone apps -- is a good idea. A new University of Oregon-led study of middle-aged or older people who get six to nine hours of sleep a night think better than those sleeping fewer or more hours.

The study, published in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, reaffirms numerous small-scale studies in the United States, Western Europe and Japan, but it does so using data compiled across six middle-income nations and involving more than 30,000 subjects for a long-term project that began in 2007.

"We wanted to look at aging, particularly dementia and cognitive decline as people get older, and the importance of sleep. Our results provide compelling evidence that sleep matters a lot," said lead author Theresa E. Gildner, a doctoral student in the UO's anthropology department. "In all six countries, which are very different culturally, economically and environmentally -- despite all these differences -- you see similar patterns emerging."

Video Overview of Project and Study: http://youtu.be/5wx-aZLY5W4

The study, based on the first wave of data from a continuing long-term project, focuses on people 50 years old and older in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa. Among the key findings were:

Men reported higher sleep quality than women in all six nations, with men and women in Mexico reporting the highest.

Women reported longer sleep durations than men in all countries except Russia and Mexico. Men and women in South Africa slept longer than in any other country. The least sleep hours for both sexes occurred in India.

Individuals sleeping less than six hours and more than nine hours had significantly lower cognitive scores compared to those in the intermediate group.

Trained native speakers in each country interviewed the participants, who rated their sleep quality on a five-point scale and the number of hours they'd slept over the two previous nights. That information was averaged. Participants then went through five standard cognitive tests involving immediate recall of a list of presented words, delayed recall of those words later, forward and backward recall of long lists of numbers, and a verbal fluency test in which they listed as many animals as possible without repetition, the use of proper nouns or descriptors.

The study concludes that the findings have important implications for future intervention strategies for dementia. The consistent associations between intermediate sleep durations, high sleep quality and enhanced cognitive performance in these diverse populations suggests that improving sleep patterns may help reduce the level of cognitive decline as seen in older adults.

Another important finding, Gildner said, is the gender difference in all sleep and cognition variables. Citing previous studies, the authors hypothesized that women's sleep patterns reflect postmenopausal changes, increased bladder instability and feelings of isolation after the loss of a spouse or lack of social support. Cognition scores of women may result from their sleep difficulties and/or lower educational levels.

The growing database in the long-term study, known as the Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE), is allowing researchers to mine many combinations of variables connected to health and lifestyle, said J. Josh Snodgrass, professor of anthropology at the UO. "It also will allow anthropologists to explore cultural factors that may contribute to sleeping and health patterns."

Snodgrass is a key investigator on SAGE, which is funded by a joint agreement of the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.

"This study is hugely powerful and so different from what's been done in the past, simply because of the consistency of how the data was collected -- multi-national, random samples of people," he said. "Sleep is something that is important but often undervalued in our society.

"From doing this research and being familiar with the literature," he added, "an emphasis on sleep issues by the media in recent years is warranted. Every single piece of evidence that people look at now as they are investigating sleep and different health associations is all showing that sleep really, really, really matters. We're just now scratching the surface on what patterns of sleep normally are, and also what are these associations between sleep and health issues."

INFORMATION:

Co-authors with Gildner and Snodgrass were: UO doctoral student Melissa A. Liebert, anthropology; Paul Kowal of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and University of Newcastle Research Centre on Gender, Health, and Aging in Australia; and Dr. Somnath Chatterji of the World Health Organization.

Funding for the joint NIH-WHO agreement comes from the NIH National Institute on Aging (YA1323-08-CN-0020). An additional NIH grant (RO1-AG034479) also supports the project, which will continue to track a variety of changes among the participants over time.

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

Sources: Theresa E. Gildner, doctoral student, biological anthropology, 541-346-5109, tgildner@uoregon.edu, and J. Josh Snodgrass, associate professor of anthropology, 541-346-4823, jjosh@uoregon.edu

Links:
VIDEO PRESENTATION: http://youtu.be/5wx-aZLY5W4
About Snodgrass: http://www.pinniped.net/snodgrass.html
About Gildner: http://pages.uoregon.edu/anthro/people/graduates/#gildner
Department of Anthropology: http://pages.uoregon.edu/anthro/
Study abstract: http://www.aasmnet.org/jcsm/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=29504
Follow UO Science on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfOregonScience
UO Science on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UO_RIGE
More UO Science/Research News: http://uoresearch.uoregon.edu

Note: The University of Oregon is equipped with an on-campus television studio with a point-of-origin Vyvx connection, which provides broadcast-quality video to networks worldwide via fiber optic network. In addition, there is video access to satellite uplink, and audio access to an ISDN codec for broadcast-quality radio interviews.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Tugging on the 'malignant' switch

2014-06-16

Cambridge, Mass. – June 16, 2014 – A team of researchers led by David J. Mooney, Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, have identified a possible mechanism by which normal cells turn malignant in mammary epithelial tissues, the tissues frequently involved in breast cancer. Dense mammary tissue has long been recognized as a strong indicator of risk for breast cancer. This is why regular breast examinations are considered essential to early detection. Until now, however, the significance of that tissue ...

Sensor in eye could track pressure changes, monitor for glaucoma

2014-06-16

Your eye could someday house its own high-tech information center, tracking important changes and letting you know when it's time to see an eye doctor. University of Washington engineers have designed a low-power sensor that could be placed permanently in a person's eye to track hard-to-measure changes in eye pressure. The sensor would be embedded with an artificial lens during cataract surgery and would detect pressure changes instantaneously, then transmit the data wirelessly using radio frequency waves. The researchers recently published their results in the Journal ...

LLNL researchers develop high-quality 3-D metal parts using additive manufacturing

2014-06-16

LIVERMORE, Calif. – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed a new and more efficient approach to a challenging problem in additive manufacturing -- using selective laser melting, namely, the selection of appropriate process parameters that result in parts with desired properties. Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder-based, additive manufacturing process where a 3D part is produced, layer by layer, using a high-energy laser beam to fuse the metal powder particles. Some SLM applications require parts that are very dense, with less than ...

Embryonic stem cells offer new treatment for multiple sclerosis

2014-06-16

Scientists in the University of Connecticut's Technology Incubation Program have identified a novel approach to treating multiple sclerosis (MS) using human embryonic stem cells, offering a promising new therapy for more than 2.3 million people suffering from the debilitating disease. The researchers demonstrated that the embryonic stem cell therapy significantly reduced MS disease severity in animal models and offered better treatment results than stem cells derived from human adult bone marrow. The study was led by ImStem Biotechnology Inc. of Farmington, Conn., ...

Antarctic species dwindle as icebergs batter shores year-round

2014-06-16

The Antarctic shore is a place of huge contrasts, as quiet, dark, and frozen winters give way to bright, clear waters, thick with algae and peppered with drifting icebergs in summer. But as the planet has warmed in the last two decades, massive losses of sea ice in winter have left icebergs free to roam for most of the year. As a result, say researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on June 16, boulders on the shallow seabed—once encrusted with a rich assemblage of species in intense competition for limited space—now mostly support a single species. ...

First Canadian Bell palsy guideline

2014-06-16

The first Canadian guideline for Bell palsy, facial weakness or paralysis caused by facial nerve damage, is aimed at helping physicians manage and treat patients during the acute phase as well as recovery. The guideline, published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), is based on the growing body of recent evidence on the condition. Bell palsy is damage to the facial nerve that results in sudden weakness or paralysis of one side of the face. It can come on suddenly with symptoms such as drooping of the face and eyelids, twitching, and others that may include ...

A faster path to optical circuits

2014-06-16

Just as electronic circuits work with electrical charges, optical circuits process pulses of light, which gives them a distinct advantage in terms of speed. Optical technologies are therefore the object of intense research, aiming to develop novel optical devices that can control the flow of light at the nanometer scale. EPFL scientists have developed a new method that can optimally design a widely-used class of optical devices with unprecedented effectiveness. Their designs have been fabricated in the US, at the University of Rochester, and successfully tested in Italy, ...

Discovery of a bud-break gene could lead to trees adapted for a changing climate

2014-06-16

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Scientists have confirmed the function of a gene that controls the awakening of trees from winter dormancy, a critical factor in their ability to adjust to environmental changes associated with climate change. While other researchers have identified genes involved in producing the first green leaves of spring, the discovery of a master regulator in poplar trees (Populus species) could eventually lead to breeding plants that are better adapted for warmer climates. The results of the study that began more than a decade ago at Oregon State University ...

Study shows chikungunya mutation places several countries at risk of epidemic

2014-06-16

GALVESTON, Texas — For the first time, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers were able to predict further adaptations of the chikungunya virus that recently spread from Africa to several continents that will likely result in even more efficient transmission and infection of more people by this virus strain. A key factor in a viruses' potential to sustain its circulation and ultimately cause disease is its ability to adapt to new host environments. The number and complexity of these adaptations is shaped by how hospitable the new host is to a certain ...

Cover the bases: Sports physicals are no substitute for comprehensive checkups

2014-06-16

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Nearly half of parents say any qualified health care provider – not just a child's usual provider – can do a sports physical, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. One quarter of the 434 parents surveyed in the poll took their child to an alternate location for the most recent sports physical, says Sarah J. Clark, M.P.H. , associate director of the National Poll on Children's Health and associate research scientist in the University of Michigan Department of Pediatrics. Sports physicals ...

Sleep quality and duration improve cognition in aging populations

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: