To know me, is to love me, especially at 4:00 am when I am responding to your email from yesterday. That said, nothing is more annoying then having someone RESPOND to my email at 4:00 am, and yes, I do have co-workers who don’t sleep either! Many people are considered “short-sleepers,” in other words, they are up and at ‘em early in the morning after a brief 4-5 hours of sleep. In fact, as a child I remember lying in bed listening to the open theme music for the Perry Mason show, when I should have been asleep hours before.  

After years and years of people telling me to sleep more, I finally found a study that I thought might prove I am healthier and will have less cognitive decline than all of you sleepers who stay in bed for long periods of time. In fact, the study did show that long-sleep duration has been associated with global brain atrophy, more white matter hyperintensities, and proinflammatory biomarkers which may be the pathways linking long sleep to dementia! Sounds disgusting, doesn’t it? 

Total transparency, I am also an early sleep person, you might find me sleeping at 10:00 pm while everyone else is waiting to watch the 11:00 pm news. Although I can brag about being a short sleeper, this study shows that “early sleep timing” was also associated with dementia, Alzheimer disease, and faster cognitive decline. Darn, I almost won this one. Bottom line, if you can train your body to need less sleep AND stay up and watch the 11:00 pm news, you will be at lower risk for cognitive decline. Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me but hey, to each their own, now go take a nap! Stay informed and stay well!