Sleeping too little or too much can increase risk of getting dementia, study finds

研究：老年人睡得太少或太多都会加速大脑退化

New research from Stanford University provides additional evidence for the connection between sleep and brain function. The study was published Monday in JAMA Neurology.

 斯坦福大学的这项新研究为睡眠和大脑功能之间的联系提供了新证据。该研究本周一（8月30日）发表在《美国医学会神经病学杂志》上。

Researchers at Stanford University measured seniors' (ages 65 to 85) dementia risk and cognitive abilities, finding higher risk in those patients who regularly slept six or fewer hours compared to those who slept seven or eight hours.

斯坦福大学的研究人员通过对年龄在65岁到85岁之间的老年人的痴呆风险和认知能力测评发现，平时睡眠6个小时以下的人相比睡7个或8个小时的人痴呆风险更高。

Those seniors who slept nine or more hours also had lower cognitive functions and other health issues, but the researchers didn't find the same high dementia risk in this group.

平时睡9个小时以上的人也出现了认知能力低下和其他健康问题，但是研究人员发现该群体的痴呆风险不像睡眠不足的人群这么高。

As adults age, it's common for their sleep patterns to change or become disrupted - leading to longer, shorter, or more irregular sleep.

随着年纪增长，成年人的睡眠模式通常会发生改变或出现紊乱，从而导致睡眠时间变长、变短或变得不规律。

This disruption may be linked to Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, impacting seniors' ability to remember information, problem-solve, and go through everyday behaviors.

睡眠紊乱可能和老年痴呆症或其他类型的痴呆症有关，影响着老年人记忆信息、解决问题的能力，并会影响日常行为。

Sleep disruption can also be caused by - or heighten - depression, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions.

睡眠紊乱还可能由抑郁症、冠心病和其他疾病导致或加剧这些病症。

The Stanford researchers measured levels of beta amyloid, a protein in the brain that is typically found in high levels when a patient develops Alzheimer's.

斯坦福大学的研究人员测量了β淀粉样蛋白的大脑蛋白质的水平，这种蛋白质通常在老年痴呆症患者大脑中会大量出现。

In addition, the researchers used several tests for memory, attention, spatial skills, and executive function to identify patients' cognitive abilities.

此外，研究人员还测试了记忆力、注意力、空间感知力和执行力来评定患者的认知能力。

Those patients sleeping for six hours or fewer a night were more likely to develop dementia, the researchers found. The low-sleep patients had higher levels of beta amyloid.

研究人员发现，睡眠时间在6个小时以内的患者更容易患痴呆症。这些睡眠少的患者大脑中的β淀粉样蛋白含量更高。

'Amyloid-β is one of the first detectable markers in the progression of Alzheimer's disease,' Joe Winer, postdoctoral researcher at Stanford and the study's lead author, told CNN.

该研究的首席作者、斯坦福大学的博士后研究员乔·维纳告诉美国有线电视新闻网说：“β淀粉样蛋白是痴呆症病程进展中最早可察觉到的标记物之一。”

The Stanford researchers found that patients with lower sleep also performed worse on memory tests, while those with higher sleep (nine or more hours) performed worse on executive function tests - which measure the brain's ability to switch between different tasks.

斯坦福大学的研究人员发现，睡眠少的患者在记忆测试中表现更差，而睡眠多（睡眠时间在9个小时以上）的患者在执行力测试中表现更差。执行力测试用于衡量大脑在不同任务之间转换的能力。

'The main takeaway is that it is important to maintain healthy sleep late in life,' Winer told CNN.

维纳告诉美国有线电视新闻网说：“研究带给我们的主要启示在于，老年人保持健康的睡眠很重要。”

摘录研究结果的重要部分。