Don’t ignore these may cause brain diseases

Is your dream life turning more adventurous with each passing day with scenes of chasing and fighting becoming more common as you sleep? As the scene in your dream becomes more dramatic or frightening, do you throw a pillow or nearby object at your partner or leap out of bed? Acting out dreams may seem harmless at first and you may attribute your high stress levelsand brain diseases for these episodes, but if scientific data is to be believed, this could be an early sign of brain disease. Dream reenactment is one of the symptoms of REM sleep behaviour disorder, which affects 0.25 to 1.25 percent of the population and is more prevalent in the elderly, particularly men. A recent article in Scientific American suggests that RBD may be a precursor to neurodegenerative disease, specifically synucleinopathies — conditions in which the protein alpha-synuclein forms toxic clumps in the brain. (Also see: experts on the unexpected causes of recurring nightmares)

“It has been observed that certain individuals begin to act out their dreams during sleep. This indicates that they will begin calling individuals; they appear to be fighting enemies or snakes. This condition is known as REM sleep behaviour disorder. This happens because in REM sleep or rapid eye movement sleep, we usually dream. But in REM or rapid eye movement phase, our body and muscles are paralysed by the brain so that we see the dreams but don’t enact them. REM sleep is essential for the formation and consolidation of long-term memories. However, in certain people this paralysis of muscles is not enforced so they start enacting their dreams. This can become difficult because these people can shout, hit their bed partners while in dreams or sometimes while trying to enact their dreams they can injure themselves,” Dr. Praveen Gupta, director of neurology at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram, stated over the phone to HT Digital.

Link of enacting dreams with brain diseases

Dr Gupta says the bigger problem is that sometimes, it has been seen that these increased occurrences of REM sleep disorder predict neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disorder. This occurrence of REM sleep disorder may antedate occurrence of degenerative diseases by 10-15 years in some cases.

Signs of brain diseases in your dreams

There are three basic brain degenerative disorders where increased incidence of REM sleep behaviour is seen. Dr Gupta shares in detail.

1. Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder where a patient is not able to control their movement, and report symptoms like body stiffness and tremor. The progressive disease affects the nervous system and the parts of the body controlled by the nerves.

2. Diffuse lewy body disease

The second most common cause of dementia, the diffuse lewy body disease is a neurodegenerative disorder where people have fluctuations in mental status, hallucinations, and parkinsonism. In this condition, a patient has memory decline, cognitive decline, abnormal jerky movements, sleep disturbances and movement disorder of stiffness, slow movement and trembling. The condition of patient fluctuates significantly in diffuse lewy body disease where they may be very well one day but may not be so well in a week’s time.

Also read: Sleep deprivation: side effects of less sleep