Every person who sleeps, has a bad dream at some time, but if scary dreams are coming again and again, then it can be a wrong sign for health. According to research published in the European Academy of Neurology Congress in June, adults who have nightmare every week have 3 times more risk of untimely death before the age of 70, 3 times higher than those who do not ever have nightmare or ever. According to scientists, frequent nightmares can actually accelerate the body aging process, which affects our health on a very deep level.
The study describes bad dreams as ‘more predictable of untimely death’ compared to well-known risk factors such as smoking, obesity, poor diet or not even physical active. So what is the relationship between bad dreams, old age and early death? Learn about this.
What does study say?
How bad dreams can affect long -term health. Researchers tried to find out how many times a person has bad dreams and how fast his cells are old.
The research was led by UK Dementia Research Institute and Dr. Abidemi Otikeu of Imperial College London. His team analyzed data of 2429 children aged 8 to 10 and 1,83,012 adults aged 26 to 86 years and monitored for 19 years.
The team’s findings were shocking. He said that people who had nightmares once or more times a week were found to be small, their telomeres (protective cover at the ends of chromosomes) were found to be small. These telomeres are important for healthy cell division and when they become small, they indicate rapid aging of cells.
Research also revealed that adults who often have nightmares, their possibility of dying before the age of 70 years is three times more than those who do not have bad dreams sometimes or sometimes.
During the research that lasted for 18 years, 227 untimely deaths occurred. Compared to adults who did not have bad dreams at the initial level, those who reported that they had weekly nights had the risk of untimely death. These results proved to be perfect for both sexes and all age and mental health conditions.
Why do bad dreams increase the pace of aging?
Researchers found that bad dreams disrupt both sleep quality and sleeping time, affecting the body’s ability to repair themselves at the cellular level. When sleep is constantly broken or low, the body misses the necessary procedures overnight. Over time, combination of poor sleep and chronic stress can play a major role in intensifying our cells and our body age.
‘Otikeu told The Independent about the science behind it and said,’ Our sleeping mind cannot differentiate between dreams and reality. This is the reason that bad dreams often wake us up with sweaty, shortness of breathing and sharp heartbeat. The reaction of this dream of dreams can be more intense than anything we experience when waking up and due to such acute phenomena, there is longer in cortisol hormones. Cortisol is a hormone that is relieved by the body during stress and it can increase the age of the cell quickly.
Otikeu said that some simple changes in lifestyle can also help reduce the frequency of bad dreams. These include good sleep, controlling stress, treatment of depression or anxiety and avoiding watching horror films before sleeping.
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