A dream of violence is a sign of future brain diseases

Researchers have found an unexpected link between people's dreams of violence and strangeness with the risk of neurological diseases like Parkinson's and dementia. They say these dreams are like an early warning sign tens of years before the disease is diagnosed.

Until now, scientists have not had much clear evidence of this connection. However, previous research results show that: 80-100% of patients have dreams of violence, eventually developing neurodegenerative disorders.

These rare dream disorders are called REM sleep disorders (RBD) . It makes people "act" in their dreams like kicking and punching in their sleep, sometimes screaming and even being able to fly out of bed in the wrath of violence.

'All RBD researchers have a consensus on this issue. Basically, if you follow patients with long-term violence dreams, you will find that they all suffer from neurodegenerative disorders , 'said Carlos Schenck of the Sleep Disorders Center in Minnesota.

REM (rapid eye movement) in sleep is one of the three states that we often switch over each night, and it is the only thing related to the dream.

During REM sleep, the brain's electrical activity is actually quite similar to how it works throughout the day. However, in addition to burning neurons brightening up when we wake up, the body falls into a state of temporary muscle paralysis.

During sleep, this temporary paralysis may cause some people to have muscle twitching and mumbling - while most people remain calm during this period (sleepwalking is not related to REM sleep).

But if you develop REM sleep behavior disorders, the dream phase will be very different. At that time, patients often performed physical actions corresponding to their vivid dreams.

You should worry about your violent dreams.(Photo: TKalinowski).

The cause of RBD is unknown, but it can occur at any age - and more oddly, older men are more likely to suffer from this problem than women and children (this ratio is 9: 1).

Neurologist John Peever of the University of Toronto, Canada is investigating the link between RBD and neurological diseases. They seem to continue to increase in human studies.

The brain for centuries has been thought to be associated with dream formation. And by focusing on the brain, Peever can isolate a group of special cells that seem to be responsible for maintaining REM sleep.

When determining this group of cells in mice, he was able to quickly switch between REM sleep and non-REM sleep for mice, by simply turning on and off the cells.

With this in mind, Peever and his team studied how this group of cells works in RBD patients. They found that the cells were damaged - and this is important, because these damage is also related to the onset of neuropathy.

"For some reason, cells in REM sleep are the first to be ill and then neurodegenerative diseases spread throughout the brain, affecting other areas - causing disorders like Parkinson's. REM behavior disorder is actually the most reliable forecast about the onset of Parkinson's disease , " Peever said.

Although Peever's research results are preliminary and not yet tested, they are similar to previous studies. Unfortunately for RBD patients, the percentage of this relationship is very high.

In a 2013 study involving 44 RBD patients, the researchers found 82% of them had neurological disorders within 10 years of the study. In another report published in the same year, among 26 RBD patients studied, 80.8% had Parkinson's disease or dementia.

A study from 2010 showed that 41 out of 43 RBD patients studied (95%) developed a variety of neurological disorders. The majority of neurodegenerative disorders are called systemic atrophy (MSA) , and a 2007 study showed that 100% of MSA patients were diagnosed with symptoms of RBD.

Currently, Peever says his research not only supports previous studies, but can also identify damage in the stem cell group of the brain - the cause of neurological disorders.

"We observed that more than 80% of people with REM sleep disorders eventually developed neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and dementia of Lewy body. Sleep may be an early warning sign of diseases that may occur about 15 years later, ' Peever said.

Although more research is needed to find out exactly what is going on, at least we have evidence to begin to worry about the violent dreams we experience.