Could something as basic as a good night’s sleep protect African Americans who have a gene variant linked to Alzheimer’s Disease? A new study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease by neuroscientists at Rutgers University-Newark points to this possibility for carriers of a variation that is the most common genetic risk factor for African Americans who suffer from Alzheimer’s at twice the rate of white people.
“This new finding suggests that someone with a high-risk variant might be able to overcome their genetic inheritance by improving their sleep habits,” said Bernadette Fausto, Research Faculty at Rutgers-Newark, who is the lead author on this new study. In addition to being at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease, African Americans get less sleep on average, according to Fausto. The National Health Interview Survey found a “sleep gap” of nearly an hour, with white women getting the most sleep and Black men the least. To read the full story.