Alzheimer’s disease — the most common form of dementia — affects twice as many women as men. Now, there's a new study to try to figure out whether how much sleep women get could be partly to blame.
Scripps Research is launching the REFRESH-Neurocognitive Outcomes in Women study for women 55 and older. Participants will be asked to wear a Fitbit device so researchers can monitor their sleeping patterns.
The head of the study, Dr. Stuti Jaiswal, says having a disruptive sleep was always believed to be an effect of dementia but that now there's good evidence it could be connected to actually developing the disease.
"A lot of people are worried about dementia, right, especially as we have millennials who are coming into being caregivers," Jaiswal, who is a physician and sleep researcher at Scripps Research, said. "Is poor sleep or impaired sleep something that leads to dementia down the line? I think that's really the crux of the question. And the thing is, is sleep modifiable, right? It's something you can change ... Really, it would be interesting if improving sleep were a potential solution."
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For the study, researchers need about 400 women who have never been diagnosed with dementia. For more information, click here.
