Nevertheless,
Mental health: how frequent nightmares:
Photo credit, Getty Images
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- Author, Timothy Hearn
- Role, The Conversation*
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31 minutes ago
Waking up after a nightmare can get your heart to get the heart. Moreover, but the effects can go far beyond a restless night. For example, Adults who have nightmares each week have almost three times more likely to die before 75 mental health: how frequent nightmares years than those. However, who rarely make them.
This alarming conclusion-which has not yet been evaluated by peers-comes from researchers who have combined data from four major long-term studies carried out in the United States. Furthermore, according to more than 4,000 people aged 26 to 74.
At first, the participants indicated the frequency to which the nightmares interrupted their sleep. Furthermore, During the following 18 years, researchers identified the number of participants who died prematurely – 227 in total.
Even after having taken into account current risk factors such as age. Nevertheless, sex, mental health, smoking and weight, they found that people who made nightmares each week were almost three times more likely to die prematurely – a risk similar to that of intensive smoking.
The team also studied “epigenetic clocks” – chemical markers present on DNA which act as biological kilometers. Therefore, People with frequent nightmares were biologically older than their birth certificates suggested. for the three clocks used (Dunedinpace, Grimage and Phenoage).
Science behind the silent cry
Accelerated aging represents approximately 39 % of the link between nightmares. premature death, which suggests that the cause of nightmares also pushes the cells of the body to the end.
But how can a cry that you never pronounced leave a trace on your genome?
The nightmares occur during the paradoxical sleep phase (REM), when the brain is very active but the muscles paralyzed. The mental health: how frequent nightmares sudden push of adrenaline. cortisol and other stress hormones can be as intense as anything that happens during the awakening state. If this alarm signal sounds night after night, the response to stress can remain partially activated throughout the day.
Permanent stress has harmful consequences on the body. It triggers inflammation, increases blood pressure and accelerates the aging process by eliminating the protective ends of our chromosomes.
In addition. being brutally awakened by nightmares disrupts deep sleep, the crucial period when the body is repaired and eliminates waste at the cellular level. Together. these two effects – constant stress and lack of sleep – could be the main reasons for premature aging of the body.
Photo credit, Getty Images
The idea that disturbing dreams are announcing health problems is not entirely new. Previous studies have shown that adults suffering from weekly nightmares are more likely to develop dementia. Parkinson’s disease, years before the appearance of daytime symptoms.
More and more evidence is suggesting that the brain areas involved in dreams are also affected by brain diseases. Frequent nightmares can therefore be a warning sign of neurological problems.
The nightmares are also surprisingly frequent. About 5 % of adults say they make it at least one per week, and 12.5 % make one per month.
Because they are mental health: how frequent nightmares so common and so easy to treat, new discoveries make nightmares a potential public health target.
It has been shown that cognitive behavioral therapy (TCC) for insomnia. therapy by repetition of images-in which patients rewrite the end of a recurring nightmare while they are awake-and simple measurements like keeping the room fresh, dark and without screens reduce the frequency of nightmares.
Before drawing hasty conclusions, it is important to keep some important points in mind. The study was based on the dream accounts of participants. which can make the distinction between a classic nightmare and a real nightmare difficult. In addition, most participants were white Americans; The results may therefore not apply to everyone.
The biological age has only been measured once. we cannot yet say if the treatment of nightmares makes it possible to mental health: how frequent nightmares go back in time. Crucial point: The study has been presented in the form of a conference summary. has not yet been subject to peer assessment.
Despite these limits, the study presents important strong points that deserve to be taken into account. The researchers used several groups of participants. followed them for many years and relied on the acts of official deaths rather than on self -disclaced data. This means that we cannot simply reject these results as a simple statistical chance.
If other research teams manage to reproduce these results. doctors could start to question their patients about their nightmares during their routine exams, in addition to measuring their blood pressure and checking their cholesterol levels.
Therapies to control frightening dreams are affordable, non -invasive and already available. Their generalization could offer a rare mental health: how frequent nightmares opportunity to extend life expectancy while improving the quality of our sleep.
* Timothy Hearn is a professor of bioinformatics at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom.
Mental health: how frequent nightmares
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