A new study, published today in the journal eClinicalMedicine, has found another risk indicator for Parkinson’s Disease.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham believe that older persons who begin to have horrible dreams or nightmares may be showing early signs of Parkinson’s disease.

According to a new study published in eClinicalMedicine, those who have frequent terrible nightmares are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease later than those who don’t.

Although prior research has revealed that persons with Parkinson’s disease have more nightmares and disturbing dreams than the general population, nightmares have never been considered a risk indicator for Parkinson’s disease.

“Although it can be really beneficial to diagnose Parkinson’s disease early,” says lead author Dr Abidemi Otaiku of the University’s Centre for Human Brain Health, adding “there are very few risk indicators and many of these require expensive hospital tests or are very common and non-specific, such as diabetes.”

“While we need to carry out further research in this area, identifying the significance of bad dreams and nightmares could indicate that individuals who experience changes to their dreams in older age – without any obvious trigger – should seek medical advice.”

The researchers used data from a 12-year cohort study conducted in the United States, which included 3818 older males living alone. The men filled out a series of questionnaires at the start of the study, one of which asked about sleep quality.

Participants who had disturbing nightmares at least once a week were tracked to see if they were more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the end of the trial.

91 cases of Parkinson’s disease were discovered throughout the follow-up period. Researchers discovered that people who had frequent terrible nightmares were twice as likely to develop the disease as those who didn’t. The majority of diagnoses occurred within the study’s first five years. Those who had frequent terrible nightmares during this time were more than three times as likely to acquire Parkinson’s disease later on.

The findings show that older persons who will be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease will start having awful dreams and nightmares a few years before developing the disease’s hallmark symptoms, such as tremors, stiffness, and slow movement.

The findings also suggest that our dreams can reveal vital details about our brain anatomy and function, making them a promising subject for neuroscience research.

The researchers intend to employ electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the biological causes behind alterations in dreams. They’ll also investigate whether the findings can be replicated in bigger, more diverse cohorts, as well as possible relationships between dreams and other neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s.

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