Overall, these results suggest frequent nightmares may be one of the earliest signs of dementia, which can precede the development of memory and thinking problems by several years or even decades – especially in men.Īlternatively, it is also possible that having regular bad dreams and nightmares might even be a cause of dementia. I found a very similar pattern in the middle-aged group. In women, however, the increase in risk was only 41 per cent. Interestingly, the connection between nightmares and future dementia was much stronger for men than women.įor example, older men who had nightmares every week were five times more likely to develop dementia compared with older men reporting no bad dreams. I found that middle-aged participants who experienced nightmares every week, were four times more likely to experience a cognitive decline (a precursor to dementia) over the following decade, while the older participants were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia. I analysed the data to find out whether participants with a higher frequency of nightmares at the beginning of the study were more likely to go on to experience cognitive decline (a fast decline in memory and thinking skills over time) and be diagnosed with dementia. These included over 600 people aged between 35 and 64, and 2,600 people aged 79 and older.Īll the participants were dementia-free at the start of the study and were followed for an average of nine years for the middle-aged group and five years for the older participants.Īt the beginning of the study (2002-12), the participants completed a range of questionnaires, including one which asked about how often they experienced bad dreams and nightmares. In the study, I analysed data from three large US health and ageing studies. ![]() More specifically, it shows that having frequent bad dreams and nightmares (bad dreams that make you wake up) during middle or older age, may be linked with an increased risk of developing dementia. My latest study, published in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal, shows that our dreams can reveal a surprising amount of information about our brain health.
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