{"id":840729,"date":"2026-09-08T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/840729\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:52:12","slug":"new-study-suggests-micro-awakenings-at-night-may-be-a-sign-of-increased-alzheimers-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/840729\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Suggests ‘Micro-Awakenings’ At Night May Be A Sign Of Increased Alzheimer’s Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 7 million Americans<\/a> live with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, a debilitating condition that causes<\/a> memory loss, trouble finding the right words, difficulty solving problems and other cognitive issues. Alzheimer\u2019s gets progressively worse over time and is the most common cause of dementia among older adults.<\/p>\n

Early diagnosis<\/a> and treatment of Alzheimer\u2019s is an important way to manage the disease and prepare for forthcoming changes in cognition. And researchers from the University of Li\u00e8ge in Belgium found there may be a potential connection between sleep quality and heightened Alzheimer\u2019s risk.<\/p>\n

Researchers looked at the sleep patterns in more than 500 people ages 18 to 31 and 50 to 69 and found that older adults who experienced frequent \u201cmicro-awakenings\u201d while sleeping had a higher genetic risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. These micro-awakenings happened before any symptoms (memory loss, trouble with words, etc.) of Alzheimer\u2019s disease occurred. Participants were otherwise healthy. <\/p>\n

Adults in the younger group who had frequent \u201cmicro-awakenings\u201d throughout the night did not have a similar increased Alzheimer\u2019s risk.<\/p>\n

Researchers described micro-awakenings<\/a> as quick surges of brain activity that don\u2019t necessarily wake someone up but do disrupt sleep. The study was published in the journal Sleep<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers monitored brain activity using an electroencephalogram.<\/p>\n

There are limitations to this research. First, researchers looked at more than 500 people in this study, but only 87 people were in the older group. An older sample size of just under 100 people isn\u2019t very large, which means these results may not exist in a larger group of people. More, experiencing frequent small wake-ups does not mean someone will automatically develop Alzheimer\u2019s disease. <\/p>\n

That said, sleep is an important factor when it comes to overall health and risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease and dementia. Sleep is a time when the brain<\/a> consolidates memories and cleans out the waste that may heighten Alzheimer\u2019s risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship between sleep disturbances and dementia is an important dynamic, and rapidly evolving area of investigation,\u201d Dr. Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine, previously told HuffPost.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a strong association between sleep disruption \u2015 particularly impairment of slow-wave sleep (SWS), also referred to as deep sleep \u2015 and an increased risk of developing dementia. Alterations in sleep architecture, including reductions in SWS, may serve as early biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease,\u201d Fesharaki-Zadeh continued.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

PonyWang via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A new study shows that older adults who experience \u201cmicro-awakenings\u201d throughout the night have a higher genetic risk of Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

How To Lower Your Risk Of Alzheimer\u2019s And Dementia<\/p>\n

Alzheimer\u2019s disease can be genetic, but there are things you can do to lower your risk or delay the onset.<\/p>\n

Getting regular exercise, at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week such as walking, gardening or biking, is one way<\/a> to reduce your risk. It\u2019s also important to address and treat hearing loss, high blood pressure and diabetes. <\/p>\n

Eating a diet high in healthy fats, whole grains, fruits, veggies and lean meats is also good for health overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always have said, what\u2019s good for the heart is good for the brain,\u201d Dr. Rudy Tanzi, the director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, previously told HuffPost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smoking can increase your risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia, and so can alcohol use. <\/p>\n

And, as suggested by this study, getting good sleep can also be protective for your brain. This includes treating things like sleep apnea. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to sleep adequately because the brain renews itself during deep sleep and lowers its concentration of beta amyloid, which is the toxic protein that contributes to the development of Alzheimer\u2019s disease,\u201d Dr. James Ellison, a geriatric psychiatrist at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, previously told HuffPost<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Experts also recommend folks stay connected to friends and family and continue to challenge their brains, whether by learning a new language, cooking a new recipe or picking up a new hobby.<\/p>\n

Occasionally forgetting the name of a restaurant or misplacing your keys aren\u2019t cause for concern. Cognitive changes are part of aging.<\/p>\n

But when these changes disrupt day-to-day life, you find yourself struggling to take part in conversations, get lost on the way to familiar places or have trouble completing tasks that were once easy, it\u2019s worth talking to your doctor about your Alzheimer\u2019s or dementia risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, a debilitating condition that causes memory loss, trouble finding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[42938,1103,97],"class_list":["post-840729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alzheimer","tag-dementia","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840729","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=840729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}