taking a sleeping pill each night may ward off Alzheimer’s.

[LAJ12345]

Scientists report "encouraging" results after insomnia drug appears to reduce the build-up of damaging proteins in the brain.

stuff.co.nz/life-style/well...

[MarionP]

Really very very interesting! And you know having PD does not preclude one from having aging disorders as well as Alzheimer's and other dementia.

[LAJ12345 in reply to MarionP]

yes, so is it the drug dissolving the proteins then as it says the length and quality of sleep is no different? Which seems odd as you would think taking a sleeping pill would alter sleep.

And over only 2 nights!

it works by inhibiting the production of orexin which is what melatonin does too?

n.neurology.org/content/90/...

[MarionP in reply to LAJ12345]

Well who knows what the actual mechanism is, nobody knows. Educated guesses are useful and may have some small approximation to the truth, but you don't even need that if you have an effect that is robust and demonstrable and reliable. What I can say is it has definite promise and that's a good thing.

But if we like to read educated guesses, then here's one, more along the line of function rather than the risky business of specifying an actual mechanism: the idea is that it prolongs the time of the normal restorative sleep in which you have non-rem sleep during which the fluid bathing neurons in the brain is recycled and waste products removed and the fluids refreshed. That's a pretty critical function, an analog to illustrate could be having a toilet, having a waste removal system, being able to recharge batteries. Can't do without it anymore then you can do without somebody coming to take your trash, clear your toilet. Like your kidneys and liver, got to have them. If you're not able to evacuate your fecal matter, eventually your body will try to absorb it, not good. That's one of my favorite troops used to say, "... ...where the vegetables are green, and you can pee right into the stream (and that's important!)..." {To anyone old enough and into West Coast humor, I am quoting the Firesign Theater boys, the wonderful LSD soaked troupe who would go on Johnny Carson and do Richard Nixon impressions, 3 of them speaking at each other in Nixon impressions until nobody could breathe anymore for laughing}.

[LAJ12345]

mdlinx.com/article/an-explo...

“Some people were given 10mg of the sleeping pill suvorexant, some 20mg, and some placebo. The researchers extracted and examined cerebrospinal fluid every two hours for 36 hours from the participants to see how the levels of plaque and tau changed.  The team chose to give suvorexant instead of other sleeping aids because it was “the first FDA-approved dual orexin receptor antagonist,” study author Brendan Lucey MD, an associate professor of neurology and director of Washington University’s Sleep Medicine Center, tells MDLinx. The results of the studyThe results, though preliminary, were clear; those who received the 20mg dose of the sleeping pill saw their amyloid levels drop 10 percent to 20 percent, and tau levels also fell as much as 15 percent when compared to those given a placebo. There was no significant difference in protein levels between the individuals given 10mg of the sleeping pill and the placebo group. “This study is exciting because we have shown that suvorexant acutely lowers amyloid-beta and phosphorylated tau,” says Lucey.  “Additional studies are needed where participants receive drugs like suvorexant for longer periods of time. Since suvorexant (and now other dual orexin receptor antagonists) is already FDA-approved, we hope that we can move forward rapidly with phase III trials testing if this class of drug can prevent/delay AD,” he continues.”

[LAJ12345]

but this from consumer

consumerreports.org/cro/new...

“It might help you nod off a few minutes faster or stay asleep slightly longer. But that small benefit comes with some big safety concerns, such as being too drowsy to drive the next day or feeling like you can't move or talk.We were prompted to take a close look at Belsomra, which is made by Merck, because it's a new type of sleeping pill called an orexin-receptor antagonist. It acts on the brain in a different way compared to older insomnia meds. The Food and Drug Administration initially rejected high doses of Belsomra—30 mg and 40 mg—because it said they posed a dangerous risk of next-day drowsiness that could lead to deadly auto crashes. The FDA eventually approved lower doses of the drug—5 mg, 10 mg, and 20 mg.”