Now, however, a group of American researchers has discovered how the vicious circle can be broken.
The suvorexant sleeping pill, available by prescription under the name Belsomra, has been shown to reduce harmful clumps of two types of proteins in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
In particular, it concerns amyloid and tau proteins.
This is according to a study published in Annals of Neuroscience
While preliminary results suggest that birth control pills may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, Researchers do not advise Take sleeping pills to prevent disease.
More studies are needed to establish the link with certainty and possibly recommend a specific dose. The results also contradict previous research that indicated this Sleeping pills can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in certain groups of older adults
One sample every half hour
The study was conducted over two nights among 38 people between the ages of 45 and 65 who were not yet showing signs of cognitive decline or having trouble sleeping.
The researchers began by taking samples of the cerebrospinal fluid from the participants.
An hour later, they gave the participants a high or low dose of suvorexant or a placebo.
Over the next 36 hours, the researchers sampled the participants every two hours to measure how much the levels of the two proteins, amyloid and tau, had changed.
The effect is clear
The results showed that sleeping pills had an obvious effect.
In the spinal fluid of people who took a high dose of suvorexant, the level of amyloid protein decreased by 10-20 percent.
At the same time, the level of the specific tau protein, hyperphosphorylated tau, decreased by 10–15 percent.
There was no significant difference between protein levels in people taking a low dose of suvorexant and those taking a placebo.
According to the researchers’ findings, concentrations of hyperphosphorylated tau increased again within 24 hours of taking the sleeping pill, while amyloid levels remained lower in the high-dose group than in the placebo group.
When the researchers gave a second dose to the high-dose sleeping pill group on the second night of the study, both levels of the two types of protein dropped again.
Researchers hope that future studies will show whether treatment with sleeping pills has a lasting effect on protein levels in the brain — and potentially slows the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, too.
