Sleep Disorder Could Signal Neurological Disease

SLEEP DISORDER COULD SIGNAL NEUROLOGICAL DISEASE

People with a disorder that causes them to kick or cry out during deep sleep are more likely to develop dementia or Parkinson's disease,  results of a new Canadian study published in the December 24, 2008 online issue of Neurology indicated.

It's basically a disorder where you act out your dreams at night.  When people who have RBD (REM Sleep Behavior Disorder) dream they are in a fight, which is very common, they will make punching movements."

Researchers followed 93 RBD patients and examined them after five, 10 and 12 years for signs of neurological disorders such as dementia or Parkinson's disease. After 12 years, researchers found the majority of people with RBD developed either dementia or Parkinson's, with 26 developing neurodegenerative disease, 15 developing Parkinsons and 11 developing dementia.

These disorders happen to 1 to 2 percent of the general population in their entire lives, so 50 percent at 12 years is much, much higher.

While sleep disorders are common, researchers emphasized that the majority are due to the stress of modern life and will not necessarily lead to neurological diseases.

Half the population has a sleep problem, but most of the time, they're benign.  We live in a society with anxiety, stress, late night TV and cappucinos.

It's important to point out that this is a relatively dramatic disorder that comes on in your 50s and 60s, so it's not something that happens once in awhile your entire life," Researchers explained. "A little bit of sleep talking or waking up a little confused and then falling back asleep again are normal things that happen in the population."

Researchers hope that identifying those at risk for these diseases will help them develop new treatments to either slow or possibly even halt their progression.

The main thing is to see if we can predict which of these people with RBD are going to get a disease and which are not.  We don't have ways to prevent those diseases now, but maybe that's because by the time a person has these diseases, it's too late to intervene.

Unfortunately, we live in a society that doesn't do very much in terms of preventive medicine, but this may be one of those things where we do know there are lots of factors that can modify disease progression, so let's intervene now.  Let's get you into things that we believe are protective against some of these diseases, such as changes in diet or lifestyle, which may add quite a few years of quality life to a patient.

"Everybody who has strong signs of REM sleep behavior disorder should probably be evaluated and probably be followed by a neurologist to make sure that everything's OK and to pick up early signs," Researchers said.

(REM behavior disorder (RBD) occurs during a stage of sleep known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep.  The characteristic behaviours of this sleep disorder can sometimes be violent and may cause injury, if left untreated.

During the dreaming state, people are normally paralyzed during their dreams and cannot act out their behaviors. Someone with REM behavior disorder is able to act out his dreams due to the loss of muscle atonia.

This particular disorder can be an inherited trait, but tends to present in males more often than females. Sometimes medications such as anti depressants, can cause REM behavior disorder. In these situations the prescribing physician would need to address the situation.
Symptoms:

Individuals who experience REM behavior disorder may call out or talk out loud and yell during sleep. Other symptoms may include:

•    Acting out violent behaviors, such as hitting or thrashing about in or out of the bed.
•    Sleepiness during the daytime.
•    Awakening with injury such as lacerations, bleeding, bumps or bruises and/or
•    Vivid dreams.)

(Source :  Neurology, online December 24, 2008.)