A recent scientific study revealed that atopic dermatitis does not only affect the skin, but may extend to include sleep and memory disorders
The study included 78 adults with this disease, and the researchers found that 77% of the participants had sleep problems, and 64% had memory problems. Moreover, the severity of the symptoms was directly related to the severity of the disease: the more severe the dermatitis, the more difficult it was to enter the sleep stage, and the hours of sleep decreased by an average of about 4.5 hours in severe cases.The analysis also showed that poor sleep is closely linked to impaired cognition, such as difficulty concentrating and remembering information. According to statistics, poor sleep increases the risk of memory problems by more than 4 times, while daytime fatigue increases this risk by more than 3 times.
Scientists have pointed out that sleep and memory disorders reinforce each other when a person has atopic dermatitis: the worse a person's sleep is, the more their cognitive functions deteriorate, due to chronic itching, inflammation, and a constant feeling of discomfort, which hinders the brain's proper recovery during sleep.
The researchers emphasized the need to assess sleep quality and cognitive complaints alongside skin condition in patients with atopic dermatitis.
