Violent dreams can be warning sign

As if nightmares weren't bad enough, a rare sleep disorder causes people to act out their dreams, sometimes with violent thrashes, kicks and screams. Such violent dreams may be an early sign of brain disorders down the line, including Parkinson's disease and dementia, according to research published online July 28, 2010, in the journal Neurology. The results suggest the incipient stages of these neurodegenerative disorders might begin decades before a person, or doctor, knows it. [Read full story] 

Credit: Dreamstime

Violent Dreams May Presage Brain Disorders Decades Later

Jeanna Bryner

A rare sleep disorder in which people act out their dreams, sometimes with violent thrashes, kicks and screams, may be an early sign of brain disorders down the line, including Parkinson's disease and dementia, a new study suggests.

Almost 1 in 3 in U.S. have sleepwalked: study

By Andrew M. Seaman | Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although only a handful of people in the United States sleepwalk every year, a new study suggests close to one-third may do it at some point in their lives.

The study, published Monday in the journal Neurology, also suggests that other sleep disorders, severe depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) -- among other things -- are linked to an increased chance of sleepwalking.

Past research on sleepwalking was mostly based on studies conducted in a lab, according to the study's lead author, who told Reuters Health he wanted to know what was actually happening in people's homes.

"We did not know what was the prevalence of sleepwalking -- as a disorder -- in the general population and that was a big problem," said Dr. Maurice Ohayon, director of the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center in California.

To find out how many people were sleepwalking -- also known as nocturnal wandering -- at home, Ohayon and his fellow researchers from around the U.S. called about 16,000 adults in 15 states.