The apnea and others disorders of the dream can lead to changes in areas of the brain responsible, among other things, for the memory and thinking, and increase the risk of dementiaaccording to a study by the University of Miami made to latinos in the US and released this Wednesday.
The work also reveals that those with lower levels of oxygen during the dream showed changes in the deep parts of the brainwhite matter, which is often common with declining health cerebral that develops with age and that in the long run can lead to dementia.
As the university center remembers, these disorders Respiratory diseases are a variety of conditions that cause breathing abnormal during the dreamincluding snoring and apnea obstructive dreamwhich is when a person stops breathing five or more times per hour.
“When the breathing stops, it can reduce levels of oxygen and affect the brain“, emphasizes the University of Miami.
The investigationpublished today in the digital journal Neurology, of the American Academy of Neurology, has been carried out on a sample of 2,667 latinoswith an average age of 68 years.
As the doctor and specialist Alberto Ramos, author of the study, points out, the choice of the sample is due to the fact that the latinos are at greater risk of suffering dementia than the white non-Latino American population.
The also director of investigation from the Sleep Disorders Program at the Miller School of Medicine. University of Miami He stressed that past studies have found that lower levels of oxygen during the dream have been related to the contraction of brainwhile others have found a link to their growth.
“Both the contraction and growth of brain can damage the memory and thinking by disrupting normal brain functions, increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia“, the researcher explained.
In the study led by Ramos, carried out over ten years, each participant was given a dream to take home that measured how often they stopped breathing, calls apneasand the frequency with which they breathed slowly or shallowly, called hypopneas.
The levels of oxygen
- The researchers also measured the levels of oxygen in the torrent blood during the dream.
- Subsequently, they were divided into three groups: those who had fewer than five interruptions of the dream per hour or no problems sleeping; those with between 5 and 15 interruptions, considered with issues mild of dreamand those over 15, that is, with issues of dream from moderate to severe.
- Of the total participants, 56% did not have issues of dream28% had issues of dream mild and 16% had issues of dream from moderate to severe.
After a decade, the participants had brain scans to measure the volume cerebral and the areas of the white matter where the tissue cerebral it could be damaged.
They found that people in the group with more issues to sleep they had 0.24 cubic centimeters more than volume cerebral in the hippocampus than those without issues to sleep.
They also discovered that for every interruption additional dreamthere was an increase of 0.006 cubic centimeters in the volume cerebral in the hippocampus.
- Those responsible for the investigation They found that the above was related to a lower amount of oxygen during the dream.
- Ramos highlights that the findings of this study reflects the need for others to follow patients from middle age or even earlier.
“A clear understanding of how volume cerebral is affected by the apnea of the dream and others disorders of the dream It is essential so that people can receive early and effective treatment, especially in people who may be at higher risk of dementia“he highlighted.
