Can Resetting Your Body Clock Help Prevent Dementia?

<div><img src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/6908b8782300003075be2188.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" alt="Alarm clock" data-caption="Alarm clock" data-credit-link-back="" data-credit="Sean Robbins via Unsplash" />Alarm clock</div><div class="content-list-component text"><p>Poor sleep, especially in midlife, has been <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/minimum-hours-sleep-dementia-prevention_uk_668ba644e4b07ef2c8177b4d">associated with an increased risk</a> of developing <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/dementia/">dementia</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/news/dreaming-of-a-world-without-dementia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">We aren’t sure exactly </a>why the two appear to be linked, though, and it can be <a href="https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/news/dreaming-of-a-world-without-dementia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">very hard to unpick</a> whether it’s an early symptom of Alzheimer’s vs an actual cause of it.</p><p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-025-00950-x#Sec13" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New research</a>, however, has found that turning off a circadian (related to the sleep-wake cycle) protein in mice reduced their levels of tau protein, <a href="https://www.dementiasplatform.uk/news-and-media/blog/amyloid-and-tau-the-proteins-involved-in-dementia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the accumulation of which</a> in the brain is linked to dementia. </p><p>It also seemed to raise their nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, levels, associated with increased <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.g