Birmingham, UK: – A recent study published in the journal, The Lancet has revealed that nightmares may predate the memory and thinking problems characteristic of dementia by years or even decades.
The study which was based on data collected between 2002 and 2012, participants completed a series of questionnaires, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. If confirmed, the research could lead to new avenues to diagnose dementia and interventions to slow the rate of decline.
The research shows that middle aged people (35-64 years) who experience bad dreams on a weekly basis are four times more likely to experience cognitive decline over the following decade, while older people were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
These data were analyzed using statistical software to determine whether participants with higher frequency of nightmares were more likely to experience cognitive decline and be diagnosed with dementia.
We’ve demonstrated for the first time that distressing dreams, or nightmares, can be linked to dementia risk and cognitive decline among healthy adults in the general population. This is important because there are very few risk indicators for dementia that can be identified as early as middle age. While more work needs to be done to confirm these links, we believe bad dreams could be a useful way to identify individuals at high risk of developing dementia, and put in place strategies to slow down the onset of disease.
Dr. Abidemi Otaiku, from the Center for Human Brain Health at the University of Birmingham, explained.
Interestingly, the study found that the relations were much stronger for men than for women. One possibility is that people who frequently have bad dreams have poorer quality sleep, which may eventually lead to the accumulation of dementia-related proteins. Another is the existence of some genetic factor underlying both phenomena.