80 to 90% of patients with behavioral disorders in REM sleep will be affected by a neurodegenerative disease according to the results of this study published in the journal Trends in Neuroscience. This disease would precede and announce the development of chronic neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or different forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
REM sleep behavior disorders predict neurological diseases
REM sleep behavior disorder is one of the sleep disorders. People prone to this pathology live their dreams. While they are sound asleep, they talk, shout, gesticulate, and may even hurt themselves. These involuntary and surprising behaviors are sometimes violent and are often linked to the content of a dream. Normally during this phase of sleep, the muscles of the sleepers are temporarily paralyzed and inactive.
Researchers from the University of Toronto revealed in their study that living dreams while sleeping would precede and announce, in 80% of cases, the neurodegeneration of patients.
“At an early stage, neurodegeneration could first affect the areas of the brain that control sleep before spreading to the stage of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,” explains John Peever, professor of biology at the University of Toronto. “Behavioral disorders in REM sleep phase not only precede but predict the development of neurodegeneration that will lead to neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
In France, more than 850,000 people are affected by Alzheimer’s diseaseand nearly 225,000 new cases are diagnosed per year.
