if you have followed this blog for awhile you know that i have problems with sleep and to compensate i take a nap each afternoon after i have lunch
this sort of compensates for the lack of sleep i get at night
it sort of gets programmed into my day
eg last night i only slept 5 hours
hopefully today i will nap an hour or so to compensate for that lack of sleep
the end result is most days i am able to get 7 hours of sleep
the body likes 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep so one can stay in a long deep sleep without interruption
the 7 hours i get is ok but not the best way to do it
but
i have learned to accept this way of getting sleep
i thought for awhile i had the nap gene
if you inherit this gene you have to have a nap everyday
its in your genetics
actually i made that one up
i take aricept (donepezil) for my mci due to alzheimers disease
it raises acetylcholine levels in the brain cells by stopping an enzyme that breaks down the acetylcholine allowing it to accumulate in the brain nerve endings
this is why i get leg cramps muscle fasciculations some visual focusing issues after taking my meds and my issues with sleep
if i stop the aricept (donepezil) the sleep issues go away
or did
i havent stopped the aricept (donepezil) in a while since i afraid to since i think its helping me some
we in medicine know that folks with alzheimers disease have sleep issues and have frequent daytime napping as an issue
in fact one of the early signs in early alzheimers may be frequent napping
ruh roh is all i can say about that
according to this scientific article and this news article about it there may be an explanation besides just the aricept (donepezil) causing my sleep issues and napping issues
there are three parts of the brain that handles wakefulness called the wakeful promotion network
these are listed in the articles
one is the hypothalamus which is in the area where alzheimers disease starts
they have found that in these three centers in alzheimers patients that there are tau proteins that unwind leading to tau tangles that have accumulated in these areas to destroy the cells there and to hinder wakefulness
75% of the brain cells were destroyed in these centers
in alzheimers disease tau proteins build up and slowly destroy brain cells and their connections
one of the areas it attacks and destroys is these wakeful centers
when they looked at folks who dont have alzheimers disease it was found these centers were in intact
so
the aricept (donepezil) hinders sleep at night
the three wakeful centers are slowly getting destroyed by the tau tangles
both lead to daytime sleepiness
so please accept and understand my early afternoon naps
and
those of your family also so affected
the organicgreen doctor
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