(Reuters Health) People who suffer from sleep disturbances in midlife or as they age may be more likely to develop cognitive impairment than people who usually get plenty of uninterrupted rest, new research suggests.
Researchers examined data from four studies of the link between sleep and cognitive function, including two studies that followed almost 3,400 people for more than two decades, starting when they were in their 50s. In these two cohorts, people who suffered from nightmares and insomnia in middle age were more likely to experience cognitive impairment in old age than people who slept just fine earlier on.