According to a study relayed by The Guardian, an adult person who regularly has nightmares would be more exposed to the risk of senile dementia. And here’s why.
If dreams can be interpreted as messages from our subconscious, the most terrifying of them would be warning signs of senile dementia. In any case, this has been demonstrated by a recent study carried out by Dr Abidemi Otaiku, a neuroscientist from the University of Birmingham, who published his conclusions in eClinicalMedicinerelayed by The Guardian. According to this study, people who regularly have nightmares may experience faster cognitive decline and be at greater risk of dementia as they age. Notice therefore to those who see their sleep regularly disturbed by these bad dreams: people aged 35 to 64 who frequently have nightmares, or at least once a weekwould be four times more likely to develop dementia over the next ten years.
“Middle-aged people who frequently have nightmares may be at risk for accelerated cognitive decline”, assured Dr. Abidemi Otaiku. To arrive at this observation, the specialist studied the sleep of 600 men and women aged 35 to 64, as well as that of 600 other people aged 79 and over, not suffering from cognitive decline or dementia. Among older participants, the neuroscientist noted that between 2002 and 2012, those who regularly had nightmares were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia. “They face a high risk of dementia as they age, according to some observations”said the specialist.
What is the link between nightmares and dementia?
For the moment, Dr. Abidemi Otaiku cannot concretely explain the link between the frequency of nightmares and dementia, but rather sees this study as the way to prevent cognitive decline in certain patients. “Although more work is needed to confirm these links, we believe that bad dreams could be a useful way of identifying people. at high risk of developing dementiaand put in place strategies to slow the onset of the disease”, confided the specialist. According to the neuroscientist, the link between nightmares and dementia could be lack of sleep which results from it since they come to spoil the nights of the sleepers. Because, according to an Inserm study dating from 2021, lack of sleep, in the elderly in particular, could cause a risk of dementia. So drive those bad dreams out of your mind.