Sleep is an important activity of the entire day because this is the basic and probably the only thing that can make your body rest for an extended period. The advantage of sleep is reflected in your body and mood.
This is to let you know that sleep can ensure that the body gets to work with full vitality and vigor whenever required. So, the only activity that can do so much about our health can cause so many problems when it is not there? Isn’t that so?
So, this is about the relation between dementia and sleeping and what happens when a person doesn’t sleep well.
Relation Between Dementia and Sleep
Dementia is a loss of cognitive abilities for which a patient can forget a lot of things. This is a long process where forgetfulness slowly kicks in. It might start with forgetting people’s faces or some particular events which seem normal.
But when it increases, the patient forgets how to do the simplest of tasks like washing utensils, brushing teeth, and wearing sweaters, but all happen over a span of a few years or months, depending on the case. But how is sleep connected to this?
The real answer is whenever someone has a sleeping disorder, that too for a long time, it affects their nerves. The body doesn’t get enough rest, and the brain suffers. So, the cognitive and other abilities of the brain slowly deteriorate.
That includes memory and other physical task completion abilities. The problem of dementia could be the result, whereas the sleepless nights could be the reason.
Now, if we break down all the possible reasons, then we will see the age factor has a lot to play. As we age, our sleeping time decreases, and there is a certain amount of required sleep for all age groups.
If you know that a person in his or her 30’s is sleeping for 2-3 hours a day, then it is a problem. Because it is the time to sleep for 6-8 hours and not more or less. The continuation of unhealthy patterns for a long time leads the brain cells to exhaustion, and they will not be able to deal with anything serious.
The problems that start to show up are lack of concentration, anxiety, palpitation, disgusting feeling of not being able to remember things, upset and depression, difficulty in communicating abilities, and many more.
So inadequate sleeping is not at all a good thing because your brain is not getting what it needs. Imagine how busy and superactive it stays throughout the day and when you are sleeping, it is still active, but the brain gets little relaxation during the nighttime, and if it doesn’t even get that, then the entire body and mind will collapse. The symptoms of dementia start with very normal things which people often ignore.
Forgetfulness is one of the most common signs, but aren’t we all forgetting something all the time? Does it mean we are demented? No, that is why differentiating between common forgetfulness and dementia is difficult, and we should always let a professional handle such tricky situations.
What Should We Do To Prevent Such Things?
The answer is sleep, and that too in a proper way. There is no need to sleep throughout the day and night; you just need to sleep for adequate hours. That will ensure your memory is retained and that all the nerves and cells work properly.
If you have to do something more carefully, then check if your family has a history of dementia or not because many such things are often passed down generation after generation.
The brain is the mysterious thing that works 24×7, and to save it from all possible kinds of amnesia, dementia, or other memory-related issues, sleep is a one-stop solution. Last but not least, sleeping excessively is also not required at all.
Know the suitable duration, practice sleeping for that phase, and if you ever have any problem, then a doctor can guide you on how to remain on a specific track that can prevent brain-damaging disorders.
So, having some prior guidance on how to delay the process of inviting dementia is required, especially if it runs in your family.