Skip to Navigation | Skip To Content

Sleep Apnea Linked to Alzheimer's

Sleep apnea is becoming increasingly common as people become overweight. Now, scientists have found that it's another reversible cause of mental decline.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco conducted a five-year study of nearly 300 women 65 and older. They found that those with sleep apnea were on average 2.3 times more likely to develop either mild cognitive impairment (the stage of mental decline before dementia) or dementia.

Clues suggesting sleep apnea is present include:

  • Falling asleep easily during the day (especially while driving).
  • Snoring.
  • Being overweight (and a collar size of 17 or higher in men).
  • Hypertension.

Physicians can order a simple sleep study to make the diagnosis — and sleep apnea is very treatable.

References

"Sleep Apnea Tied to Worse Cognition," MedPage Today, Sep 6, 2011

News & Announcements



Some information on this site is from the book From Fatigued to Fantastic! Third Edition by Jacob Teitelbaum MD, copyright 2007 by Jacob Teitelbaum MD. Used by permission of Avery Publishing, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.