Can Sleeping on Your Side Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease?

Sleeping on your side may be the best position to prevent neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, according to a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Sleeping on Your Side May Prevent Alzheimer’s, Study Says

The lateral sleeping position, or “side sleeping” as we commonly refer to it, has been suggested as the best sleeping position to ward off Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other dementias.

Researchers from Stony Brook University have published a new study that shows the relationship between sleep and the brain’s ability to remove waste. Using their research, they have concluded that certain sleep positions, such as sleeping on your side, are more effective at ridding the brain of waste than others, including sleeping on the back or stomach.

Sleeping well may help prevent dementia, but sleep position is important as well

old-man-sleeping-TIMOTHY-KRAUSE

As more studies prove the beneficial effects of sleep for brain health, research has shown a link between sleep habits and dementia. Recent studies have suggested that the brain is more effective in removing waste during periods of sleep rather than wakefulness.

The ability to remove waste products like amyloid beta and tau proteins from the brain more efficiently may reduce the chances of developing several different neurodegenerative diseases, including forms of dementia.

Helene Benveniste and Stony Brook University researchers set out to understand the process of removing waste during sleep by focusing on the glymphatic system. This is the pathway that filters cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to exchange with interstitial fluid (ISF) in order to clear out waste.

In other words, it’s the system that removes harmful, toxic substances that disturb normal, healthy cells.

Sleeping on your Side Improves Glymphatic System Efficiency

Using dynamic contrast MRI and computer modeling, the researchers were able to observe the exchange between CSF and ISF in rodents as they lay anesthetized in three positions: side, stomach, and back.

The results were consistent, showing that side sleeping was the best position for the glymphatic system to properly work. Interestingly, the researchers noted that side sleeping is the most popular sleep position–whether studying animals or humans. However, the team also said that the results needed to be repeated with humans to conclusively prove the connection between CSF-ISF exchange in humans dependent on sleeping position.

Though the study has yet to be proven in humans, you may want to consider switching to the sleeping on your side in the future if the results are repeated in human trials. Why not try to curb your chances of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia?

Credit for Additional Photo to Flickr user Timothy Krause.


 

SensorWake will help you up from your side sleeping position: