We all hate nightmares and they scare us to death, but now researchers believe we have one more thing to fear when it comes to our nightmares. They may be an early indicator that you could develop Parkinson’s disease.People who suffer from a sleep behaviour disorder during REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) could develop Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, is known to impair the sufferer’s motor skills, speech and other functions, within the next five years.REM is the stage when people typically dream while asleep. A normal sleeper’s muscles are effectively paralyzed during this stage because the brain shuts off the muscles so we don’t act out our dreams and to give the body some rest.People with REM disorders don’t go into this stage of paralysis and often act out their dreams which researchers have found to be a primary link between people that go on to later develop Parkinson’s. includes nightmares, shouting, crying, thrashing around and even sudden kicking movements.

During a study done in Barcelona, scientists found that a fifth of people over the age of 60 suffering from the REM sleep disorder went on to develop Parkinson’s and other degenerative diseases such as Lewy body dementia. The study also suggests that sleep disorders could be one of the first signs of brain disease, which could then enable doctors to diagnose conditions much earlier before severe development.

A team of researchers led by Alex Iranzo at the Neurology Department of the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona looked at 43 patients over the age of 60 who had all been diagnosed with REM sleep disorders. They found that 30% had developed some form of neurological disorder two and half years after their sleeping problem was diagnosed - most cases were Parkinson's.

Those suffering from Parkinson’s have a deficiency of a chemical called Dopamine because certain nerve cells in their brains have died. Without Dopamine, their movements become slower; they become confused and lose their memory.It is not clear how the REM sleep disorder might kill these nerve cells in the brain, but nonetheless doctors have been able to determine that there is a direct link between the disorder and the development of some brain diseases, a potential break through in the early diagnosis of brain disorders.