A new study suggests that sleep can help slow down brain aging, which occurs more rapidly in people with neurodegenerative diseases.
A quick nap can be a miracle solution to protect your brain and slow down the degenerative process. This result was revealed in a study of the lifestyle and health of 500,000 people between the ages of 40 and 69.
The relationship between sleep and brain volume
Allowing sleep can protect our brains from aging. It can slow down the shrinkage of our brains, a process that occurs with age and is particularly accelerated in people with neurodegenerative diseases. The behavior of afternoon naps was associated with increased brain activity.
Aging and daytime sleepiness
The team found a link between frequent daytime sleepiness and a larger brain (equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 years of delayed aging), even though it wasn’t linked to skills like scheduling vaccinations.
“Short naps during the day may help preserve brain volume, which may be good for preventing dementia,” Garfield said, adding that previous research has shown that longer naps (30 minutes) can be beneficial.
Symptoms of sleepwalking
Previous research has shown that short naps can improve people’s learning abilities, but it’s important to note that prolonged sleep deprivation can be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.
