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Nightmares could be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease in older people, according to researchers from the University of Birmingham. In their findings, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, they indicate that men with twice as many bad dreams are more likely to trigger the disease.
What if starting to have nightmares was linked to the future onset of Parkinson’s disease? In any case, this is what scientists from the University of Birmingham, England think. This disease, the 2nd most frequent neurodegenerative pathology after Alzheimer’s disease, concerns more than 160,000 French people and 25,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
A study of older men
These scientists studied data from a cohort of 3,818 elderly American men who lived independently and were followed for 12 years. These volunteers were subjected to several questionnaires, including some on the quality of their sleep.
Those who mentioned having nightmares more than once a week were followed to see if they were more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. A total of 91 cases of Parkinson’s disease have occurred. Most diagnoses occurred during the first five years of the study.
Double the risk
Researchers found that participants who frequently had bad dreams were twice as likely to develop the condition as those who didn’t. Most diagnoses occurred during the first five years of the study.
Participants who frequently had bad dreams during this same period were more than three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
The reverse link already established
The opposite link had already been established by previous studies: it is known that men affected by Parkinson’s disease have more nightmares, but the reverse had not yet been studied.
The results of this work suggest that long before a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, patients will likely begin to have bad dreams and nightmares a few years before developing the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease, including tremors, stiffness, and stiffness. slowness of movements.
Consult your doctor in case of frequent nightmares
“Although we need to conduct further research in this area, identifying the importance of bad dreams and nightmares may indicate that people who experience changes in their dreams in old age – without any obvious triggers – should seek medical advice. doctor” says the study’s lead author, Dr Abidemi Otaiku, from the Center for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham.
“Although it can be really beneficial to diagnose Parkinson’s disease early, there are very few risk indicators and many of them require expensive hospital tests or are very common and non-specific” concludes the author.
This study shows that our dreams can reveal important information about the structure and functioning of our brain. The researchers plan to use electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the biological reasons for changes in dreams. They will also seek to replicate the findings in larger, more diverse cohorts and explore possible links between dreams and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.