A small study has discovered that taking a sleeping pill before bed can lead to a decrease in levels of key Alzheimer’s proteins.
This is significant as high levels of these proteins are associated with the worsening of the disease.
Sleep disturbances often precede cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients, pointing to a connection between sleep patterns and the disease’s progression.
Preliminary Results From Suvorexant Study
The study, centered around the FDA-approved insomnia drug suvorexant, suggested that sleep medications might have the potential to slow or stop Alzheimer’s progression.
However, the senior author Brendan Lucey, Director of the Sleep Medicine Center at Washington University in St. Louis, emphasized that this is a proof-of-concept study and does not suggest that people should start taking suvorexant to stave off Alzheimer’s.
Suvorexant belongs to a class of insomnia medications known as dual orexin receptor antagonists. By blocking the biomolecule orexin, which promotes wakefulness, these drugs help people fall asleep.
Earlier studies on mice have shown that good sleep, potentially induced by orexin inhibitors, could potentially lower amyloid and tau levels, both associated with Alzheimer’s.
For this study, 38 participants aged 45 to 65, without cognitive impairments, were recruited. They were given either a lower dose (10 mg), a higher dose (20 mg) of suvorexant, or a placebo before sleep for two nights.
Cerebrospinal fluid was sampled to monitor changes in amyloid and tau levels. Results showed a significant drop of 10% to 20% in amyloid levels and 10% to 15% in hyperphosphorylated tau levels in the high-dose suvorexant group compared to the placebo group.
Moving Forward
While the results are encouraging, Lucey stressed that the study is preliminary. He has further studies underway to evaluate the longer-term effects of orexin inhibitors on people at higher risk of dementia.
He remains hopeful that the connection between sleep and Alzheimer’s could be leveraged to prevent cognitive decline.
In the meantime, his advice is for people to prioritize quality sleep and seek help from a sleep specialist if they are having sleep issues.
If you care about Alzheimer’s, please read studies about the root cause of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s, and 5 steps to protect against Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that the herb rosemary could help fight COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s disease, and results showing this stuff in the mouth may help prevent Alzheimer’s.
The study was published in Annals of Neurology. Follow us on Twitter for more articles about this topic.
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