A new study has found that recurrent nightmares are an early sign of Parkinson’s disease, especially in the elderly, according to a study that is the first of its kind.
Painful dreams have long been associated with neurological disease, especially in men, but the study published in the journal “e Clinical Medicine” is the first of its kind to verify that nightmares are a warning of Parkinson’s disease.
Tracking the health of 3,818 older men for 12 years, researchers found that those who experienced frequent nightmares were twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
Most diagnoses occurred during the first five years of the study.
The findings suggest that older adults can be screened for Parkinson’s disease by asking them about the content of their dreams. Then early intervention can be done to help stop the potential onset of physical symptoms, such as tremors, stiffness and sluggishness.
Early diagnosis is one of the biggest challenges with Parkinson’s disease. By the time the disease is diagnosed, most patients have already lost 60 to 80 percent of dopamine-releasing neurons in part of the brainstem.
A previous study by the same researcher found that patients with painful dreams are five times more likely to show rapid disease progression.
“Although it can be really helpful to diagnose Parkinson’s disease early, there are very few risk indicators and many of them require expensive or very common and unimportant hospital tests,” explains neurologist Abidemi Otaiko of the University of Birmingham in the UK. specific, such as diabetes.
The new study advises people who experience changes in their dreams in old age to seek medical advice.
Nearly a quarter of Parkinson’s patients report recurring painful dreams at the time of diagnosis, and some report having bad dreams for up to 10 years before their diagnosis.
Parkinson’s patients are also more likely to develop REM sleep disorders.
In the study, participants who reported frequent painful dreams were twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease over a 12-year period.
One hypothesis of the study is that the late onset of nightmares is an early sign of neurodegeneration in some men.