We all have bad dreams. But according to researchers from the University of Birmingham, when they become recurrent in older people, it might well mark the first signs of Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the destruction of a very specific population of neurons. Neurons involved in movement control. The disease thus becomes progressively disabling. In France, more than 160,000 people are affected.
The signs are now well known: slowness or difficulty in movement, stiffness of the joints or tremor. But other symptoms – even earlier – are gradually being identified. And are sometimes surprising.
Thus, in a study, published in eClinicalMedicine, British researchers showed that elderly people who frequently had nightmares were more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, compared to those who never had nightmares. In fact, we already knew that patients affected by the disease had more bad dreams than the general population. But the use of nightmares as a risk indicator had not been considered until then.
2 times more risk
For their work, the team used a large US study, including data from nearly 4,000 men over 12 years. At the start of the study, participants completed a series of questionnaires, including on the quality of their sleep. Those reporting bad dreams at least once a week were then followed up to see if they were more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
As a result, 91 men developed the pathology. And according to the authors, “those who frequently had bad dreams were twice as likely to be affected, compared to those who never had them.” According to them, “older people who will one day be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease had probably started having nightmares a few years before the onset of the classic symptoms.”
While this work is only observational, the researchers plan to use electroencephalography to examine the biological reasons for such changes in dreams. And see if this kind of phenomenon is found in other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
