Did you get a good night’s sleep last night? Or did you end up snoring the night away?

Sleep is believed to have an important role in memory, according to Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine. Researchers continue to explore whether a relationship exists between the various stages of sleep and the binding of different types of memories. However, most people don’t get enough sleep, which can affect judgment, mood and the ability to learn and remember information. Furthermore long-term chronic sleep deprivation may contribute to health conditions.

One issue that sometimes hampers the quality of rest is sleep apnea. This condition is a common disorder in which a person experiences one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while asleep. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes and may occur 30 times or more an hour. When normal breathing starts again, the person may emit a loud snort or choking sound. And when breathing stops or becomes shallow, a person often moves out of deep sleep and into light sleep, which decreases the quality of a person’s overall sleep. Untreated sleep apnea has bound found to increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and heart failure. 

Sleep Apnea and Alzheimer’s Disease

So what about Alzheimer’s disease? A new small study out of New York University’s School of Medicine suggests there may be a correlation between sleep apnea and Alzheimer’s disease. Admittedly, this is a small study, but it’s a finding worth keeping an eye on as long-term studies look more closely at this relationship.

This study involved 68 participants who were between the ages of 60 and into the 80s. The average age of the participants was 71.

The researchers assessed the participants’ sleep partners. They found that approximately 25 percent had symptoms of moderate to severe breathing problems while asleep which is a symptom of a potential case of sleep apnea. About 50 percent of the participants experienced mild breathing problems. Interestingly, the participants didn’t complain about sleepiness or issues with concentration, which suffers of sleep apnea experience. The researchers also looked at participants’ biological signs such as brain damage and decreased use of glucose in the brain that indicates an increased likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Their analysis found that participants who were thinner and who had breathing problems while asleep were more likely to have these biological indicators. However, sleep apnea most often is linked to having excessive weight so you'd expect the heavier study participants to have these indicators. Surprisingly, though, the researchers found that obese participants who suffered breathing problems while asleep didn’t seem to have an extra risk of Alzheimer’s; additionally, being slightly overweight seemed to lower the risk of this disease.