Nightmares may be the first sign of dementia

Senile dementia can be prevented early

Until now, scientists do not know the exact causes of dementia (senile dementia), but there is more and more evidence of early symptoms that may indicate a high risk of its development over the years. One of these predictors turned out to be… nightmares. If they follow you regularly, alas, your chances of developing dementia in old age increase dramatically, which was proved by a group of American researchers who published the results of their scientific work in The Lancet.

Dementia is not the first disease that nightmares can indicate. The connection between disturbing dreams and Parkinson’s disease has been established for a long time. It turns out that people who regularly have nightmares have faster cognitive decline, which in turn increases the risk of dementia. Well, nightmares are common in the general population. Approximately 5% of adults experience nightmares on a weekly basis, and another 12-40% on a monthly basis. In reality, the situation is probably even worse.

Given the ubiquity of bad dreams and nightmares in the adult population, it is surprising that their clinical significance remains largely unknown.

However, in recent years there has been increasing attention to the relationship between disturbing dreams and clinical outcomes in people with Parkinson’s disease: three studies have shown that a higher frequency of disturbing dreams in people with PD is associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline and an increased risk of dementia. Recent studies in adults have shown that disturbing dreams become more frequent with age and are associated with poor cognitive performance, but no study has examined whether they may be associated with cognitive decline and dementia in the long term.

This time, the researchers focused on people without Parkinson’s disease – the study involved 605 middle-aged and elderly people (35-65 years old) without cognitive impairment. They were followed up for 13 years: periodically, the study participants were tested on a cognitive level. In addition, the study included 2,600 elderly 79 years of age and older, followed up to 7 years of age (at the time of the start of observation, they were healthy in terms of cognitive function). In addition, study participants were regularly asked about nightmares (whether they happen often or at all).

Based on their observations, the researchers concluded that the frequency of disturbing dreams was linearly and statistically significantly associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline among middle-aged adults and a higher risk of all-cause dementia among older adults.

Compared to middle-aged adults who reported no disturbing dreams at baseline, those who reported weekly disturbing dreams had a fourfold risk of cognitive decline. Among older people, the difference in dementia risk was twofold. And men, all of the above concerned in the first place. By the way, the prevalence of frequent nightmares, defined as “once a week or more”, was higher in the older cohort compared to the middle age cohort (6.9% vs. 6%, respectively). The results of the study suggest that the onset of disturbing dreams in middle and old age may represent early signs of neurodegenerative dementia in some people.

The results of the study also showed that screening for disturbing dreams in the general population could help identify people at the earliest stages of neurodegenerative dementia – years or decades before a clinical diagnosis is made. What’s more, by tracking changes in the frequency of disturbing dreams over time, it may even allow doctors to determine how close these people are to the onset of clinical dementia. “Anxious dreams are predictive of cognitive decline and dementia from all causes in middle-aged and older adults without cognitive impairment, especially among men. These findings may help identify individuals at risk of developing dementia and may inform the development of early prevention strategies.

“Perhaps, if treatment is carried out – drug and non-drug, eliminating nightmares, the risks of cognitive impairment can be reduced, but this requires separate studies,” comments a well-known therapist, military doctor Alexei Vodovozov.