After mild stroke, more sleep or time spent trying to sleep tied to thinking problems, finds research

The study involved 422 people from Edinburgh and Hong Kong with an average age of 66 who had a mild stroke or a TIA, which is also called a “mini stroke.” Within one to three months after the stroke, all participants had brain scans, filled out sleep questionnaires and took cognitive tests.

The participants had an average score of one point on a test where scores of one to four indicate a mild stroke.

People who spent a longer time in bed were more likely to have signs of damage to small blood vessels in the brain, including a greater volume of white matter hyperintensities, or areas in the white matter of the brain where brain tissue has been damaged. They were also more likely to have slightly lower scores on the test of thinking and memory skills.

People who had longer sleep duration were more likely to have small areas of microhemorrhages, or microbleeds, in the brain.

“More research is needed to confirm these findings and also to look at whether prolonged sleep has negative effects on people who have never had a stroke or TIA,” Wardlaw said. “Of course, research is also needed on whether improving people’s sleep patterns after stroke could ward off some of these possible detrimental effects.”

The study was a snapshot in time-it did not follow participants to see changes over time, and researchers did not look at participants’ sleep quality before they had strokes.

Reference:

Joanna M. Wardlaw, Association of Self-Reported Sleep Metrics With Imaging Markers of Small Vessel Disease and Cognition in Patients With TIA or Mild Stroke, Neurology, https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000213734.