The Caring Corner®
Home care update: can sleeping pills help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s?
Can sleeping pills help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s? I want to share with you the results of recent research that suggests it’s a possibility. The Alzheimer’s-related press was on fire in recent days with the news of this study because the ingredient that was tested is a common sleeping pill.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis tested a sleeping aid called Suvorexant that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for insomnia. The researchers found that people who took Suvorexant prior to bedtime experienced a reduction in the levels of key proteins in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer’s.
No one knows for sure what causes Alzheimer’s, but it is definite that people with the disease have high levels of two different proteins in their brain tissues, called amyloid and tau. And there is a strong correlation between how severe someone’s Alzheimer’s is and the amount of amyloid and tau present in his or her brain.
It is also known that poor sleep tends to be related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The mechanism for this is not fully understood although many researchers have observed that sleep is a time when your brain can cleanse itself of the debris that accumulates as a result of the daily biological processes that take place in your brain. If you sleep poorly, there is less opportunity for your brain to cleanse itself. Those amyloid and tau proteins build up over time.
The researchers wanted to find out if better sleep could contribute to reduced likelihood of Alzheimer’s. And they tried Suvorexant. They administered the drug before at bedtime and then monitored how each patient’s amyloid and tau levels changed. They found that if you took 20 mg of Suvorexant there was a statistically significant reduction in both proteins.
The lead researcher, Dr Brendan Lucy, said “if we can lower amyloid every day, we think the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain will decrease over time.”
Suvorexant belongs to a class of drugs called orexin inhibitors. Orexin is a natural molecule that promotes wakefulness. When orexin is blocked, you fall asleep. It’s worth noting that, in addition to Suvorexant, the FDA has approved two other orexin inhibitors. These are called LEMBOREXANT and DARIDOREXANT. The researchers cautioned that while the results are encouraging, they need to do much more analysis and research:
1 – To begin with, the study was a small, proof of concept study performed over just two nights with only 38 participants.
2 – They emphasize that there is still so much to know… Is long term use is effective in limiting cognitive decline? And if so, what are the dosage levels and who are the patients that can take it..
However, you can’t escape the exciting conclusion that these drugs are already available and proven safe. Suvorexant, for example, has been on the market almost a decade. Now there is evidence that it affects the levels of proteins that are highly-correlated with Alzheimer’s Disease.
NEVER TAKE ANY MEDS WITHOUT DISCUSSING WITH YOUR DOCTOR!
If you need care help to assist your loved ones in Durham or Chapel Hill, call us. Experienced caregivers and CNAs can provide simple companionship or may help people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, on hospice and bed bound patients. From a few hours per visit to 24/7 care.
