Scary Dreams? Could Be A Warning Sign Of Parkinson’s

According to a recent study, severe nightmares may be a warning sign of Parkinson’s Disease.  Are you screaming and flailing about in your sleep when you dream? You could be more likely to develop Parkinson’s Disease, say researchers.

It is REM (the Rapid Eye Movement stage of sleep) sleep disturbance that results in kicking, yelling and thrashing about, which could place people at higher risk of different kinds of dementia including Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia, found researchers. This raises risk of dementia occurring within the next five years.

The REM stage of sleep is when people start to dream and while normally people are effectively paralyzed and tend not to move. However, those who have REM sleep disorders often display violent movements and even act out their dreams.

This study, published in the Lancet Neurology journal, will likely help medical practitioners detect brain disease early by virtue to such warning signs.

According to the findings of Dr Alex Iranzo and others at the Neurology Department of the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, 30% subjects had developed some neurological disorder within 2 and a half years of their sleep problem being diagnosed. The disease that was seen as most prevalent was Parkinson’s.