Light Sensitivity adds to “Sundowning” from Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s research from UVA Health report’s  that enhanced light sensitivity , for many, will get late in the day.  Furthermore, this can often cause sleep disruptions.  The disruptions have some limited clinical evidence that it will contribute to the disease’s progression.

Alzheimer’s suffers will often experience sundowning.  This is a restlessness, agitation, irritability, or confusion that can begin or worsen as the sun sets.  This is the time when worn out caregivers take a much needed break. Sun downing will often can continue late into the night.  This makes it very hard for Alzheimer’s suffereres to fall asleep and stay in bed all night.

The insights into the disruptions of the biological clock seen in Alzheimer’s could have important potential both for the development of treatments and for symptom management, the researchers say.  For example, caregivers often struggle with the erratic sleep patterns caused by Alzheimer’s patients’ altered “circadian rhythms,” as the body’s natural daily cycle is known. 

What are circadian rhythms? Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes. Chronobiology is the study of circadian rhythms.

New kinds of experimental Light therapy has shown to be a useful tool to help with management.  Further, an improved understanding of the way that Alzheimer’s effects a person’s biological clock could have implications for preventing  or slowing the progression of the illness. Bad sleep by adults has been shown to be a huge risk factor for Alzheimer’s.  Why is this so?.  When we sleep,  our brains naturally cleanse themselves of amyloid beta proteins.  These are the proteins that are thought to form harmful tangles in Alzheimer’s. persons brain.

“Circadian disruptions have been recognized in Alzheimer’s disease for a long time, but we’ve never had a very good understanding of what causes them,” said researcher Thaddeus Weigel, a graduate student working with Heather Ferris, MD, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.   The news research shows that changes in light sensitivity as an interesting  explanation for some of those circadian symptoms that are brought on.

Sponsored by Med-Q Auto pill dispenser for Alzheimer’s

Trying to Understanding Alzheimer’s

First of all, Alzheimer’s is the most common form of people’s developing forms of dementia.  Second, it has an impact on over 60million people world-wide. Its is recognized by a progressive memory loss,.  This is not just forgetting where you left the car keys. Many sufferers can even forget their own family and other loved ones.  This being said, there can be many other symptoms.  For example, extreme restlessness, as well as forms of aggression.  Alzheimer’s sufferers may show bouts with poor judgment and endless searching through out the home.. These symptoms get worse for many after the sun goes down.

Ferris and her co-researchers tried using the mouse model of Alzheimer’s .  The goal was to form a better understanding of exactly  what happens to the biological clock in  the stages of Alzheimer’s. The experiment was ingenious. The Researchers gave the mice “jet lag” by altering their exposure to light.  After, they anylised how it affected the mice’s’ behavior. The Alzheimer’s mice did indeed reacted very differently than the study group of mice.

The study group of mice adapted to a six-hour time change significantly more quickly than the control group of mice. Thus, the researchers think that it is from  heightened sensitivity to changes in light brightness and hues. For normal people, the biological clocks will take it’s cues from light.  For normal people, this adjustment happens gradually.  For example, experiencing  jet lag when  travel long distances with time zone changes.  At first, researchers believed it was from inflammation in the brain  (neuroinflammation).

Neuroinflammation (NI) is the process by which an organism attempts to remove an injurious stimulus in the central nervous system (CNS) and initiate the healing process to protect the cells and overall function of the brain.

 So they looked at immune cells called microglia.  These cells have become a promising targets in efforts to develop superior and effective Alzheimer’s protocols. However, scientists eventually ruled out the theory.  They found that microglia did not make a difference in how quickly mice adapted.