Until Recently, People Were Very Proud of How Little They Slept. Now, They’re at Risk for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

How long would you last if you drank only one small glass of water or ate just one piece of bread daily? Probably not very long, as the signs of dehydration and malnutrition would quickly let you know something was wrong.

However, people tend to easily reduce another equally vital human function: sleep. It’s so important that humans spend (or should spend) a third of their lives sleeping.

Too Little Sleep Affects Everything Else You Do

Not getting enough sleep each day negatively affects your mood and has adverse cognitive effects. A recent study conducted by Central Queensland University in Australia found that driving on less than five hours of sleep is equivalent to driving drunk.

Russell Foster, director of the Institute of Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, has studied how circadian cycles affect daily rest and, consequently, people’s cognitive health, concentration, and productivity.

A few months ago, while on The Standard’s Brave New World podcast, the sleep expert said, “Until recently, people were very proud of how little they slept.” Foster explained that this trend emerged in the 1980s, when boasting about sleepless nights was considered an achievement.

However, he warns that sleep deprivation affects people’s cognitive abilities: “They can’t think straight. They can’t make sensible decisions. They can’t evaluate information. They fail to pick up the social signals from their colleagues, friends, and family.” Far from being a mark of productivity, constant insomnia makes people less competent and empathetic.

Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, echoed this sentiment. She told Vanity Fair that not getting enough sleep was long seen as a virtue. French Gates knew this firsthand, as her ex-husband believed rest was overrated—until learning about the connection between sleep deprivation and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

On an episode of his podcast Unconfuse Me, Gates shared that after his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he began studying mental health and the importance of sleep in maintaining brain health. He now aims for at least seven hours of sleep each night.

A Good Night’s Sleep for Healthy Aging

In addition to the immediate effects that appear the next morning, lack of sleep has serious long-term consequences. Foster has repeatedly emphasized the link between inadequate rest and the risk of developing neurological diseases such as dementia.

“It’s been correlated that there’s poor sleep in the middle years as it correlates with high rates of dementia in later years,” Foster said on the podcast. “During sleep, this misfolded protein, beta-amyloid, is cleared and removed from the brain. But if you don’t sleep, that clearance of beta-amyloid—which, of course, is associated with high levels of dementia and Alzheimer’s—is not cleared,” he added.

According to Foster, even a single night without sleep is enough to show elevated levels of this protein in the brain. However, the presence of beta-amyloid doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll develop dementia. “What it suggests very strongly is that if you’re vulnerable to those pathways that cause dementia, this is a significant risk factor,” Foster explained.

The Cultural Legacy of Disregarding Rest

Foster pointed out that the disregard for sleep has cultural and historical roots. During the Industrial Revolution, sleep became an idle luxury that the working class couldn’t afford. Early mornings and sacrificing sleep were celebrated as professional virtues, relegating rest to a secondary role.

“By definition, sleep was unworthy and therefore, something to be despised,” Foster said. “And it is fascinating that we are now throwing off those shackles, but it still has that idea of the worthlessness of sleep. And, of course, it’s absolutely central to our ability to function during the day.”

This attitude persists in some contexts. However, as awareness grows about the adverse effects of sleep deprivation, many people, like Gates, are changing their views. Now, people see rest as fundamental to a healthy and productive life.

For Foster, one of the biggest barriers to proper rest isn’t a physiological inability to sleep but the anxiety that characterizes modern life.

Stress disrupts the relaxation cycles needed to fall asleep, creating a vicious cycle in which the fear of poor sleep makes resting even harder. In this context, Foster suggests addressing the underlying causes of anxiety rather than relying solely on medication, which can be helpful in certain situations.

Image | Greg Pappas (Unsplash)

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