Gaby
Regular bad dreams and nightmares in middle and older age may indicate a high likelihood of developing dementia.
People spend about a third of their lives asleep. Yet, they know very little about why they dream, how the brain creates dreams, and, most importantly, what dreams mean for their health.
Meanwhile, dreams reveal an astonishing amount of information about the health of our brains. This is the assertion of Abidemi Otaiyku, a research fellow at the British Institute for Dementia Research. In 2022, while working at the University of Birmingham, he published a fascinating study on this topic in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
What Did the Study Show?
According to the findings from Abidemi Otaiyku’s team, frequent bad dreams and nightmares (disturbing dreams that cause a person to wake up) in middle or older age may be linked to an increased risk of developing dementia.
The researchers analyzed data from three large health and aging studies in the U.S. that included over 600 participants aged 35 to 64 (the first group) and 2,600 individuals aged 79 and older (the second group).
At the beginning of the study, none of the participants suffered from dementia. Initially, volunteers filled out a series of questionnaires, which included questions about their nightmares. The first group was observed for nine years, while the second group was followed for five years.
The results of the subsequent analysis showed that participants who reported experiencing nightmares more frequently at the start of the study were more likely to experience a decline in cognitive abilities (rapid deterioration in memory and thinking skills) later on. Over time, these individuals were diagnosed with dementia more often.
Weekly Nightmares
Among the volunteers in the first group who experienced bad dreams weekly, cognitive decline was observed four times more frequently over the next decade. In older participants, this rate was twice as high, according to Science Alert.
Interestingly, the connection between nightmares and future dementia was found to be significantly stronger in men than in women.
For instance, older men who had weekly nightmares were five times more likely to develop dementia compared to older men who reported no bad dreams. Meanwhile, in women, this risk only increased by 41 percent.
Overall, these results suggest that frequent nightmares may be an early sign of dementia, where memory and thinking problems manifest several years or even decades earlier. This is particularly true for men.
As Abidemi Otaiyku reassured, the good news is that nightmares (especially recurring ones) can be treated. It has already been proven that timely medical treatment for nightmares helps reduce the accumulation of abnormal proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers have also reported cases of improved memory and cognitive abilities following treatment for nightmares.
In the future, Abidemi Otaiyku plans to investigate whether nightmares can lead to cognitive decline in younger individuals. He is also concerned about whether bad dreams are a cause of dementia or merely an early sign of it in some people. Additionally, the scientist aims to explore the relationship between potential dementia and the frequency of dream recall, as well as the vividness of those dreams.
