Are frequent nightmares an early warning sign of dementia? What your dreams could be telling you

Many of us are aware of the early signs of dementia, such as memory problems, reduced concentration and difficulty doing every day tasks. However, recent research suggests that something we often take for granted—our dreams—could also provide clues to the development of the disease, according to findings from a sleep study.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham (UB) in the UK found that having frequent bad dreams and nightmares during middle and late age, especially the ones that wake you up, may be linked with an increased risk of dementia.

The research team analysed data from the Midlife in the Unite States (MIDUS) study of health and ageing that included over 600 people aged between 35 and 64 and 2,600 people aged 79. Researchers followed their results for up to a maximum 13 year period.

Research lead, Dr Abidemi Otaiku explained that although all participants were dementia-free at the start of the study, middle-aged respondents who reported having nightmares every week were four times more likely to experience cognitive decline and older participants who reported weekly bad dreams were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia.

Notably, the link between nightmares and dementia was much stronger for men than for women, as older men who said they experienced weekly nightmares were five times more likely to develop dementia compared with older men who did not report bad dreams.

For women the increase in risk was only 41 per cent, however, Dr Otaiku said there was a similar pattern in the middle-aged group.

“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,” Dr Otaiku said.

“Alternatively, it is also possible that having regular bad dreams and nightmares might even be a cause of dementia.”

Meanwhile, researchers in Japan believe a popular drink could protect you from developing dementia and it’s something you can pick up at your local supermarket.

According to Japanese scientists, older Japanese people who drank green tea had fewer white matter lesions in their brains and there was a strong link between the amount of green tea consumed and the relative volume of damaging lesions across the brain.

“This cross-sectional study found a significant association between lower cerebral white matter lesions and higher green tea consumption, but not coffee consumption, in older adults without dementia, even after adjusting for confounding factors,” the researchers wrote in npj Science of Food.

The team worked out, on average, those who drank three cups of green tea per day had three per cent fewer white matter lesions compared with those who drank one cup per day. Those who drank seven to eight cups per day had six per cent fewer lesions, compared to those who drank one cup a day.

However, the researchers point out that green tea consumption did not affect the participants’ hippocampal volume or total brain volume, which can also indicate cognitive decline, while drinking green tea did not make a difference in people diagnosed with depression, or those with the APOE4 gene variant linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

However, investigations linking green tea with lower blood pressure, and other studies linking lower blood pressure with a reduced risk of dementia suggest at least one mechanism responsible for the results could be cardiovascular.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.