UT Health San Antonio study links sleeping long hours with higher levels of an Alzheimer’s-related protein
Posted on: Thursday, July 16th, 2026
Is Sleeping Too Much a Sign of Brain Changes?
New research from UT Health San Antonio suggests that regularly sleeping 8.5 to 10+ hours per night may be linked to higher levels of p-tau181, a blood biomarker associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
“A lot of people worry about whether their sleep habits are affecting their brain health,” said Vanessa M. Young, PhD, MS, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. “Because this is a snapshot in time rather than a long-term study, we cannot say that long sleep causes Alzheimer’s, but the findings suggest it may be worth monitoring, and that more sleep is not always better for brain health.”
Young, also a trainee at the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT Health San Antonio under a National Institutes of Health Institutional National Research Service Award (T32) grant, is first and corresponding author of the study, titled, “Non-linear associations between sleep duration and plasma p-tau181 in the Framingham Heart Study,” published May 19 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
While the study does not show that long sleep causes Alzheimer’s, researchers found that longer sleep durations were associated with increased levels of this Alzheimer’s-related protein, even after accounting for age, depression, sleep apnea, and other health factors. The findings suggest that unusually long sleep may be an early indicator of brain changes and could be worth discussing with a healthcare provider as part of overall brain health monitoring.
Could your sleep habits offer clues about your brain health? Read the full article to learn what researchers discovered, why “more sleep” isn’t always better, and what these findings could mean for healthy aging and Alzheimer’s risk.