Sleep<\/a> duration presents a U-shaped risk, shared Dr Kumar, noting that both short (less than six hours) and long (more than nine hours) sleep have been associated with higher Alzheimer\u2019s risk.<\/p>\n\u201cLong sleep may increase dementia risk by about 60 to 70 percent. Long sleep likely reflects early brain changes and poor sleep efficiency,\u201d he stated. One should aim to sleep seven to eight hours consistently every night.<\/p>\n
2. Sleep fragmentation<\/p>\n
Higher sleep fragmentation, or waking up frequently at night, is associated with a 1.5 times higher risk of Alzheimer\u2019s as well as predicts faster cognitive decline, shared the neurologist. \u201cFragmented sleep precedes amyloid-\u03b2 accumulation years later,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
These are peptides that aggregate to form extracellular plaques in the brain, which are seen in Alzheimer\u2019s. \u201cDeep, continuous sleep is when the glymphatic system of the brain clears amyloid,\u201d noted Dr Kumar.<\/p>\n
3. Sleep consistency<\/p>\n
It is important to sleep at a similar time every night in accordance with the body\u2019s circadian rhythm. \u201cIrregular sleep timing is associated with higher future amyloid burden. \u2018Rest\u2013activity fragmentation\u2019 predicts pathology even in healthy adults,\u201d stated the neurologist. \u201cSame sleep-wake timing matters almost as much as sleep duration.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Night awakenings and poor sleep quality<\/p>\n
\u201cMore wake-after-sleep-onset is associated with worse cognition and higher Alzheimer\u2019s risk,\u201d stated the neurologist. \u201cReduced slow-wave (deep) sleep is directly linked to dementia risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Daytime sleep after working night shift<\/p>\n
The world never sleeps, and working night shifts is becoming increasingly common. However, this takes a toll on public health, according to the neurologist.<\/p>\n
\u201cShift workers have about 26% higher dementia risk, but risk is neutralised if about 8 hours of sleep is maintained,\u201d stated Dr Kumar, warning that circadian disruption and sleep debt are key drivers for dementia risk.<\/p>\n
6. Napping<\/p>\n
When it comes to napping, the signal is more nuanced. \u201cFrequent or prolonged naps may reflect fragmented night sleep and early neurodegeneration. Excess daytime sleepiness is consistently linked to higher dementia risk,\u201d cautioned Dr Kumar.<\/p>\n
However, a short afternoon nap of less than 30 minutes is considered to be neutral or even beneficial. It is frequent, long, or morning naps that are potential red flags.<\/p>\n
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.<\/p>\n
This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quality sleep is one of the prerequisites for good health. According to Dr Sudhir Kumar, MD, DM, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[20435,72323,51440,264618,97,169309],"class_list":["post-608850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alzheimers-risk","tag-circadian-rhythm","tag-deep-sleep","tag-fragmented-sleep","tag-health","tag-sleep-duration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/photo-1592206618085-c93f2e37a2c2_1777190974784_1777190995755.jpg\" "\\"One")
One needs to sleep consistently for seven to eight hours every day. (Unsplash)<\/p>\n