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Acting out dreams a 'key indicator' of Lewy body dementia
Author: Jonathan Warren
The strongest indicator of whether a man is developing dementia with Lewy bodies is if he acts out his dreams during sleep, according to the latest research from Mayo Clinic.
Researchers discovered that the second most common form of dementia in the elderly is five times more likely to appear if those developing it experience more movement during rapid eye movement (REM) - a time when the body is usually induced naturally into sleep paralysis.
Findings from the study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego, California, where delegates were told that the pointer could appear three decades before a diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies is made in males.
Lead investigator Melissa Murray, a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida, said: "While it is of course true that not everyone who has this sleep disorder develops dementia with Lewy bodies, as many as 75 to 80 per cent of men with dementia with Lewy bodies in our Mayo database did experience REM sleep behaviour disorder, so it is a very powerful marker for the disease."
