Us Old People need our Sleep Too ! Not TOO Much Not TOO Little

  Researchers in Japan followed 1,517 adults without dementia for 10 years.
  Incident rates of dementia and all-cause mortality were significantly greater in subjects who slept less than 5 hours per day or 10 or more hours per day.
  Therefore, short AND long daily sleep duration are risk factors for dementia and death in adults age 60 and older.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018 June 6

Increased Risk of Dementia with Multisensory Impairment

  Sensory impairments in older persons is common but this is the first study to look at the number of sensory impairments (visual, hearing, smell, touch) as risk factors for dementia.
  One sensory impairment was associated with a 50% greater risk of dementia, two impairments with a twofold greater risk, and three or four impairments was associated with a 2.8-fold greater risk of dementia.
  The lead researcher stated that it is possible that sensory impairment, particularly multiple impairments could limit an older person's engagement in protective lifestyle factors such as physical, cognitive, and social activity, thereby increasing dementia risk.
  Further studies are needed to determine whether multisensory impairment is a risk factor for dementia or an indicator of neurodegeneration.
Brenowitz, W et al UCSF 2018 April 26
But also reported in a recent syudy in China : J Am Geriatr Soc. 2018 Mar;66(3):480-486

Hardening of Arteries in Brain Increases Risk of MCI and Dementia

  Vascular risk factors are known to be associated with dementia. This study suggests atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) intracranially (in brain) is associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI:Pre-dementia?) and dementia.
  Treating vascular risk factors may again decrease the development of atherosclerosis and decrease the prevalence of MCI and dementia.
Neurology 2017 Apr18;88:1556

Go Bilingual....Delay Dementia !

  Researchers found that bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than monolingual patients, even in illiterate patients.there was no added benefit of speaking more than two languages.
Neurology November 6, 2013

Copper - A Suggested Relationship to Alzheimer's Disease

  From researchers at the U of Rochester, when studying aging mice that were fed drinking water (with only low levels of copper) found a four fold increase in copper in brain capillaries and a two-fold decrease in in LRP1 (lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1). LRP1 facilitates the transport of amyloid beta across the blood-brain barrier and into the bloodstream for removal. If the level of LRP1 is reduced then Abeta transport is reduced and its accumulation results in the production of plaques and deposits seen in the brains of patients with AD.
  It might be that as we get older our brains may be more sensitive to to copper in our diet and water.
  Because copper is a vital nutrient to cell function altering it will be a complicated task. Currently there is a study in phase II trials employing PBT2 , a chaperone molecule to escort copper from the brain.
  The fact that copper prevents the pleating of amyloid-beta has been known for many years. But in the lab, at least, copper decelerates the deposition of amyloid- beta in plaques.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2013;E-pub2013 aug 19

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Increases Risk of Dementia

   From WashUCOM St. Louis, more than half the study participants with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) developed dementia. 
   It is uncertain as to the pathological mechanism which may be involved :repeated drops in oxygen? the paucity of deep (reparative) sleep? or some other mechanism.
JAMA 2011;306(6):613-619