Can Distressing Dreams Point to Future Health Issues?

Can the frequency of distressing dreams tell us about our future brain health?

Can our sleeping dreams predict the future? The question has been debated by philosophers for millennia, but the common scientific consensus has been no. New research, however, promotes the idea that dreams can provide insight into our future health problems, particularly brain diseases such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. A series of studies has found a correlation between frequent distressing dreams and brain diseases marked by cognitive decline.

A study published in eClinicalMedicine by Obidemi Otaiku found that middle-aged adults (ages 35-64) who had nightmares at least once a week were four times as likely to experience cognitive decline in middle-age and later develop dementia. This was particularly notable for men, for whom frequent distressing dreams were strongly associated with cognitive decline, while the correlation was weaker in women. The study went on to suggest that screening for nightmares may help identify people at risk for dementia. Speaking to The Guardian, Otaiku shared his hypothesis that nightmares may be a result of neurodegeneration in the brain’s right frontal lobe that makes it harder for people to control their emotions while dreaming.

Now, another recently published study by Otaiku has found that the correlation between nightmares and cognitive decline begins much earlier in life. Children who reported regularly having distressing dreams were much more likely to develop cognitive decline or be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease by age 50. This was true for both boys and girls. Otaiku further shared with PsyPost that, “Compared with children who never had bad dreams, those who had persistent bad dreams were 76% more likely to develop cognitive impairment and were 640% more likely to develop Parkinson’s.” Otaiku theorized that it is possible that genetics plays a role in both nightmares and progressive brain diseases. He also theorized that reducing bad dream frequency early in life could prevent later development of these diseases.

This may be scary news for those of us prone to more disturbing dreams, but not all bad dreams rise to the level of nightmares, which these studies focused on. Otaiku spoke with EuroNews Culture to describe the difference: “A negative dream that scares you, but you stay asleep is a bad dream. The negative dream that scares you, but makes you wake up is a nightmare.” If your sleep patterns are consistently interrupted by nightmares, it may be worth talking to a medical professional, both for short-term improvement in sleep quality, and for long-term risk of cognitive decline.