Disturbed sleep & AD

Alzheimer's, cardiovascular, and other chronic diseases; biomarkers, lifestyle, supplements, drugs, and health care.
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KatieS
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Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by KatieS »

Another study links the association of disturbed sleep and amyloid. Interestingly, they also noted daytime sleepiness to be an indicator. As someone who has treated sleep apnea for almost six years now, I'm surprised that the lay articles are not mentioning having sleep apnea ruled out if someone has disturbed sleep and/or daytime sleepiness.
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floramaria
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by floramaria »

Disturbed sleep is the area where I am struggling most. Have incorporated a variety of things into nighttime regimen in order to optimize sleep but still do not consistently sleep well. Since I have trouble falling asleep, I have used morning blue light therapy, Evening blue blockers , no food within 3 hours of bedtime, no computer use or exercise within 2 hours of bedtime, evening meditation and/or gratitude journal, supplementing with melatonin, tryptophan, ashwaganda, magnesium and medical marijuana (indica), sleeping in a cool dark room. Occasionally I get what I consider to be a good night's sleep, but that is usually on a day following a night with wretched insomnia, or after a day when I am physically exhausted from something like a full day hike. Have not yet had my hormones checked, and maybe that is where to look next. What have others in the community done to improve sleep quality.?
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by Stavia »

Floramaria, have you considered sleep restriction therapy?
It's what I would be recommending as a next step if I were seeing you in my practice.
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by Gilgamesh »

floramaria wrote:Disturbed sleep is the area where I am struggling most.
Me too. It's just a genetic thing in my case, I'm pretty sure. My mom and my siblings and I all have sleep maintenance insomnia. Nothing but eating heavily right before bedtime, and maintaining a BMI close to 23 (and I'm an ectomorph, so that's too high) has helped. Now I have reflux, of course (minor, but still).

There are a couple things I still haven't tried: marijuana (high CBT) and trazodone, for example. But I'm not hopeful.

Agree with Stavia on sleep restriction therapy. Helps a lot of people. For me, though, some sleep switch just doesn't work well (seems to be extremely sensitive to disruption by cortisol – thus the late-night pigging out helps so much).

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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by JML »

Could someone explain sleep restriction therapy for me? Thanks!
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by Stavia »

ok. Its aimed at reducing the anxiety of being in bed and not sleeping, and reprograming the brain to expect to sleep when in bed. If you estimate you only actually sleep 5 hrs, and have to be up at 6am, you don't go to bed until 1am. You do this for a week then go to bed 15 mins earlier each week. It's brutal but it works. The first couple weeks are very hard but then it gets easier. Obviously no napping.

There are many internet articles
https://www.verywell.com/sleep-restrict ... ia-3015232
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by floramaria »

Thank you for sharing the idea of sleep restrictive therapy,Stavia. In all the things that I have heard and read about improving sleep, I had not heard of that yet, so I really appreciate the suggestion and the link.
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by Julie G »

floramaria, another supp to consider is bacopa monnieri. Like you, I layer them at night: melatonin, ashwagandha, magnesium, progesterone, and now bacopa. It works similar to ashwagandha as an adaptogen. There's also some evidence that it improves cognition. I can't take it when I'm not stressed. It relaxes me too much... even into the next day ;). I'm currently going through a lot of stress and sleeping like a baby with it. I'm also wondering if tinkering with your gut bugs could help. Some of us use SunFiber at night. It's guar gum, a prebiotic fiber that seems to feed the bugs that produce serotonin. My first week using it, my sleep felt more like general anesthesia. That strong sedative effect has worn off, but I suspect it's still doing me some good. It also helps absorb cholesterol in the gut, but doesn't interfere with ketone production. Lastly, definitely look at your hormone levels. Both estrogen and progesterone are known to improve the quality of sleep.
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by floramaria »

Thanks, Juliegee. I have been taking bacopa monnieri everyday for the last year or so, because of the possible benefits for cognitive function, but had not ever tried it at night . Being too relaxed sounds so appealing , especially after a very bad sleep last night. And sleep that feels like general anesthesia...I am ready to jump on the Sun Fiber Express! Will look into that today. Do you take it right before bed, along with the other supplements?
I know hormones are an area that needs to be assessed and have read about the sleep Inprovements once they are balanced. Will look for hormone thread in the forums.
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Re: Disturbed sleep & AD

Post by Julie G »

Yes, I take a scoop of SunFiber with my evening supps. That, combined with my blue blockers, works like a charm. We have a crazy long thread on HRT, but you might get more out of a primer on bHRT as it relates to preventing cognitive decline, shared with us by Ann Hathaway. Did you get to hear her speak in Los Angeles? IMO, it was one of the best talks. She'll be joining us in San Diego next month at our meet-up.
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