Strange Parkinson’s and Dreaming Connection Discovered

Most of us dream while sleeping.

According to a new study in NPJ Parkinson’s Disease, a specific type of dreaming may be a warning sign of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease can occur in two forms. In most cases, it starts in the central nervous system, but in some cases, it originates in the enteric nervous system of our intestines.

When this latter form happens, damaged alpha-synuclein proteins are deposited in the neurons in our intestines and are subsequently excreted in our feces.

Because scientists can detect these damaged proteins in our feces, it enables them to detect Parkinson’s disease when it is still in its very earliest stages, long before symptoms emerge.

Obviously, they cannot test the feces of the entire population to identify those that might have Parkinson’s, so this detection method is useful mostly for research purposes and for diagnostic purposes under very specific conditions.

For example, if there is a suspicion that some other condition might be related to Parkinson’s, then doctors can test the feces of the people who have that condition to check whether they should worry about Parkinson’s.

The authors of this new study guessed that isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) could be a sign of a neurodegenerative disorder like Parkinson’s since it involves wild motor symptoms that are not under the control of the patient.

To test this idea, they obtained stool samples from 94 Parkinson’s patients, 72 iRBD patients, and 51 healthy people for comparison.

They found exactly what they expected: people with iRBD were more likely than healthy sleepers to have Parkinson’s disease, as indicated by damaged alpha-synuclein proteins in their feces.

This was also true for people with extremely early-stage, undiagnosed Parkinson’s who were assumed to be healthy.

This is a great discovery, as it enables doctors to diagnose Parkinson’s disease in people who show no symptoms. All they need to do is to test the feces of people with iRBD, as they are more likely to develop Parkinson’s than people without iRBD.

So, what exactly is iRBD or isolated rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder?

It is a sleep disorder characterized by a lack of muscle paralysis during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

In normal sleepers, our bodies are almost completely paralyzed during REM sleep, which is the stage of sleep during which we do most of our dreaming.

However, people with iRBD are not completely paralyzed or not paralyzed at all during the REM sleep phase. As a result, they may act out their dreams physically, such as kicking, punching, or throwing things in their sleep. This can be dangerous for the individual and their sleeping partner, as it can lead to injury.

Thus, if you suffer from this peculiar sleep disorder, a few Parkinson’s disease tests may be in order so you can start treating it as quickly as possible.

The good news is that no matter what caused your Parkinson’s, you can stop its progression and even reverse it using the simple lifestyle changes explained here…