Neurology: shock! Staying up for just one night increases the risk of Alzheimer's in young men

January 18, 2020 / Biovalley bio on / - recently, a research report published in the international journal Neurology, scientists from Uppsala University found that when young men only have no sleep at night, the level of tau protein in their blood is higher than when they have enough sleep at night Tau protein is a key factor in Alzheimer's disease Biomarkers Photo source: Wikipedia / public domain tau protein is a special protein in neurons, which can form tangles At the same time, it will accumulate in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease It has been formed in the brain before the symptoms of the disease appear Previous research on the elderly shows that sleep is insufficient The level of tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid and the concentration of circulating tau protein in blood will be increased after head trauma Jonathan, MD Cedernaes pointed out that many of us will lack sleep at some stage of our lives due to jet lag, staying up late to complete projects, shift work, overtime work or unstable work In this study, we found that, in time for young healthy people, less sleep one night will also increase the level of tau protein in the body's blood fluid, which shows that, over time, lack of sleep may affect the body Health has a harmful effect The researchers studied 15 healthy weight men with an average age of 22, all of whom reported 7-9 hours of high-quality sleep per night; the study was conducted in two stages, each of which involved strict drinking and activity arrangements for two days and nights, as well as blood collection and analysis for the participants at night and in the morning, in the first stage In the second stage, participants are allowed to get enough sleep for the first night, while in the second stage, they are allowed to have enough sleep for the second night (sleep deprivation) In the case of lack of sleep, participants will play games, watch movies or chat in bed, and the light will be on all the time The researchers found that the average level of tau protein in men's blood increased by 2% after getting a full night's sleep, while the average level of tau protein in their blood increased by 17% when they did not get enough sleep The researchers then analyzed four other biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease, and found that the levels of these biomarkers did not change in the two groups of participants It's worth noting that although the high level of tau protein in the brain is not good, we don't know what the high level of tau protein in the blood represents in the case of lack of sleep; when neurons are activated, the production of tau protein in the brain will increase, while the high level of Tau protein in the blood can reflect that these tau proteins are removed from the brain Later researchers need to further study to determine the duration of these tau protein changes, and whether the changes in blood tau protein level can reflect a special mechanism, that is, repeated exposure and limited, interrupted or irregular sleep may increase the risk of dementia The results may help researchers to clarify whether sleep targeted interventions can help reduce the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease in the early stage The main limitation of this study is its small scale In addition, the researchers only studied young men in this study, so the results may be different in women and the elderly Original sources: Christian Benedict, Kaj blennow, Henrik Zetterberg, et al Effects of acute sleep loss on internal plasma dynamics of CNS health biomarkers in young men, Neurology (2020) Doi: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000008866